People seem to have the misconception that an electric car is...

People seem to have the misconception that an electric car is all about the electric motor. Just because the combustion engine was the important thing in a traditional car and the fuel tank is just a lump of metal to hold gasoline for the engine.

When you see an electric car driving around, what you are really seeing are some lithium ion batteries driving around, and in order to do so they are using some boring things called "wires", an "electric motor" (which is just more wires around a steel rod), and "wheels". But all the energy and work is being done by the batteries, by generating electricity from their electric->chemical/chemical->electric system, and then the batteries feed that power into the wheels to move the car around, by conducting it through wires to the motor. The battery management system is important too, but anyone can make them, to make batteries you need huge factories, and you need huge mines with high quality ore bodies.

There isn't much more that can be done in the 100+ year old electric motor, try and improve the power sequencing, try and use super conductors, that's about it. The reason why a Tesla drives good, whereas the 20 year old toyota prius or nissan leaf were expensive and crap, is 99% down to the battery technology.

All electric cars are is batteries on wheels. Its the battery that controls what its range is, what its top speed is, how many amps there are to accelerate and then the power combined with the general balance and design of the car decides how it handles.

The innovations are all going to be in designing batteries, making batteries, and supplying battery materials.