Tesla Roadsters, Nissan Leafs
and Chevy Volts are already on the market, and every major automaker
has at least one electric model in the pipeline, giving consumers an
array of choices in the coming years. The new wave of EVs just beginning
to hit American highways is not the first -- they were popular a
century ago until cheaper, gasoline-powered cars gained dominance after
World War I. But experts say the stars now appear to be aligned for an
alternative to the internal combustion engine.