2011 Nissan Leaf
The 2011 Nissan Leaf is one of the first fully electric vehicles on the market. Click here to see pictures of the 2011 Nissan Leaf.
Electric-car buyers used to have two choices: Buy a little golf-cart thing that can go no faster than 25 mph, or buy an upgraded golf-cart thing that can go about 45 mph. What about highway-speed electric cars, or ones that will go more than 50 miles on a charge? Well, that time has finally arrived.

Why drive an electric car? There are a lot of reasons to find another way to power our automobiles: End dependence on foreign oil and decrease emissions, to name two. Perhaps the overarching reason that hits home with environmentalists, conservationists, politicians, and the average consumer is one thing: High gas prices. Electric cars use no gasoline or diesel fuel, require little maintenance, have little direct impact on the environment, and the fuel--electricity--costs the equivalent of 60 cents per gallon.

Electric-Vehicle Reviews and Articles
But there are still some hurdles in the way. Modern car buyers like the fact that they can fill their gas tank in five minutes and be on their way. Rapid-charging technology for electric vehicles is in the works, and if it becomes commercially viable, we're one step closer to public acceptance of an electric-car society. The next hurdle is the price of the batteries. Any new technology always has a huge initial price tag (look at cell phones, computers, digital cameras, and even automobiles, which were all very expensive in their infancy but are now cheap and a heck-of-a-lot better than their predecessors). Some companies are proposing to lease the batteries to quell consumers' fears of high replacement and repair costs and--until rapid-charging becomes viable--set up battery-swapping locations, where you can exchange your dead battery for a charged one. While none of the current or upcoming electric cars or EV concepts use a battery-swapping architecture, only time will tell. In the meantime, charging stations have sprung up in major cities as part of an electric-car "gas-station" infrastructure. Also, a Federal tax credit toward the purchase of alternative-fuel vehicles (and potential fuel and maintenance savings vs regular cars) can offset the purchase price of a new electric vehicle (EV).

There are some that like to dismiss the electric car by noting that the electricity used to power it can come from coal-burning plants, so there's little difference in the amount of CO2 released into the air when compared to a conventional car. While it might seem like choosing between methods of killing the planet, electric cars are vastly more efficient for the amount of energy they consume. In a conventional car's engine, most of the energy contained in gasoline is wasted in byproduct heat from the combustion cycle, whereas power losses in an electric car are very low. EVs use the vast majority of their stored energy to drive the wheels. Electricity from renewable sources, however, negates the need to pollute the atmosphere at all. The two newest viable renewable sources include the sun (solar panels) and wind (propeller turbines).

There aren't many electric cars on the market right now, but wait a year or so. Many electric carmakers are vying for a release date between 2010 and 2011. Major automakers are also planning to release electric cars for sale in the next several years. At Consumer Guide, we refer to electric cars that present a viable option for replacing conventional cars as traffic-ready electric vehicles. These electrics promise all the comfort and features of regular cars, and, combined with standard features, good looks, and safety, they really could replace your current car.