Problem #1 is really the deal-breaker right up front. No particular kind of car is a solution to the many problems created by cars.

Related with that, another problem not explicitly mentioned in this piece is that a car-dependent society requires all the infrastructure to be car-dependent, regardless of what power source runs the cars. A partial but by no means nearly complete list - none of which can ever be regenerative and little of which can ever be powered by 'renewable' energy: roads, parking areas, road & parking paving material, road & parking construction and maintenance equipment, fuel for road construction and maintenance equipment, parts for cars, manufacture of replacement parts for cars, fueling station construction materials and equipment, mining and refining and distribution transport of materials for all of the above, transport vehicles for distribution of all of the above, and so on, and on...

This is only the obvious direct costs. It does not include all the ecological costs (land fragmentation, assorted indirect pollution and ecosystem degradation, etc. from all the industrial activities required to make cars usefu).

I wonder what percent of total energy use by cars is attributable to the actual driving of the car day to day. I have not yet seen anyone do the math on that. Given the massive industrial infrastructure in multiple sectors required to make cars useful for transportation, I would guess it is about 10%, maybe 20% at most. The rest of the energy use is in creating and supporting the required infrastructure, and a different kind of car does not significantly change the need for that infrastructure.