I don't think the "practical" was a problem of technology but of economy.

It's really interesting to read some very early accounts of cars. EVs were the original "practical" and "reliable". The earliest accounts of range anxiety were from ICE owners. EVs had a predictable range and you could charge just about anywhere with electricity. ICE were loud and impractical and unreliable (especially accounting for how much they were prone to breakdowns or worse explosions) and you couldn't just get more fuel at any corner drug store, it had to be very specific corner drug stores of which there were very few.

From the long view of history, it may turn out that we'll look back on the epoch of "reliable" and "practical" ICE as the anomaly of a curious economic over-investment in baroque infrastructure, at best. (At worst, given what we've known about climate change for too many centuries now, it may be looked back upon as criminal and deceitful.)