Electric Cars

From a BBC article about batteries:

Electric cars are not a new concept, the first one appeared in the 19th Century.

Many of the ones made in the early 1900s were powered by the Edison battery, which was also used as back-up power source for railways and the mining industry.

So what if they caught on?  To the extent that petrol cars never did, and all cars were electric?  No smog, or at least radically reduced smog, less climate change, quieter streets… what other advantages (or disadvantages) can you think of?