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There is a fair bit of hype around regarding electric cars. Improvements are coming, but electric drive can only take us so far - quite literally, when you consider range constraints.

There is still a lot of work ahead - with battery technology, with charging infrastructure, with viable business models - in order to knock the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) off its perch of automotive powertrain dominance. And the ICE is not standing still - it is getting more efficient, too.

Last week we carried an interesting interview with Thomas Weber, Daimler's board member for group research and development. He said that it would be some 20 years before a cost-effective electric vehicle could be produced with a range comparable with today's petrol and diesel motors - around 500 miles (800km).

There will be degrees of improvement as we go, but we are not facing an imminent and rapid automotive technology revolution. There is plenty of good work going on with advancing electric drive technology, but a sense of perspective is needed also.

INTERVIEW: The future is electric but some time away

And here's something we published earlier this year:

RESEARCH: Market projections for EVs and hybrids

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You have to hand it to the boffins in Japanese companies - they really do come up with some impressive stuff. Honda's U3-X is an interesting take on low-speed personal mobility. It's reminiscent of a unicycle and presumably is packed with gyroscopes and clever sensors to make it work. Practical? Not hugely and I'd like to see a 20-stone Millwall fan balancing on one. Clever though and looks like fun. I guess things like this keep the Honda engineers happy. 

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There's an interesting post-script to the recent blog item concerning the Castrol billboard campaign that involves a camera reading your registration plate, a DVLA database and the billboard giving you a personalised message on what engine oil you should be using as you drive past. It would appear that the DVLA is in hot water on motorists' privacy and who should have access to such a database.

Looks like Castrol's marketing initiative has backfired a bit. I can imagine a few people were watching to see how it went and may now back off from similar ideas. Good.

Mail on Sunday item

Provided by the Auto News RSS Feed: Castrol billboard post-script