They're not SUPPOSED to be viable, at least not for the unwashed masses. The future isn't you owning an electric car. The future is you renting (if you're lucky) a bicycle to travel to your assigned work location from your assigned habitat pod after eating your government supplied invertebrate sustenance package. THEY will have cars, even some of the "Outer Party" members. The "Inner Party" members will have everything, cars, helicopters, boats, planes. They will live in luxury, surrounded by heavily armed guards. The bulk of the remaining population will be strictly confined within planned cities. With digital ID checkpoints and a strict ban on private transportation ownership, there is no way to escape. This may seem idealistic for the "elites", however it won't last. Their technological paradise required a critical mass of population creating, inventing and using technology to allow it all to keep going. They were effectively parasites on the achievements of the most inventive and industrious of a huge pool of people trying. But, now they've killed the host. Their technology will slowly break down, and the skills and resources to repair or replace it will just not be there. Their jets and helicopters will be grounded, then propeller planes, large power yachts all the way down to cars eventually. Their whole planned world of luxury and power will come crashing down around them. In the end, their guards will likely mutiny, and it will become a power struggle among the remaining guards to secure and protect arms and ammo, until that too is depleted.