There is finally another electric car back on the market in the United States. At least one that is apparently getting attention from the consumer. The Tesla Roadster (modestly priced at $109,000) has been on the market for a year now and appears successful (at least among the elite). Its website: http://www.teslamotors.com/index.php . 
Although this is an adequate step towards a greener highway, I'm not as impressed as I could be. But I guess innovations like these always start super expensive. To be fair to Tesla, they have a $50,000 version due out in 2012. It's actually funny they're priced so high as Nikola Tesla was known for being downright rotten with money. Despite being the father of modern electrical currents, the man couldn't  keep his pennies under a safe magnetism to his person. 

Car companies are finally braving the waters and embarking on potentially financially dangerous ventures for the sake of future prosperity. The Roadster's battery lasts 220 miles before needing a recharge and similar powered cars are tiptoeing to market almost every month by the looks of it. 

Unfortunately, for just how dangerous it is for a company to produce electric cars, it is just as dangerous for the consumer to buy them in today's market. The technology is not yet ripe and we are likely to see huge improvement from year to year. For instance, a full re-charge takes 3.5 hours which obviously limits the potential for long-distance trips. I imagine the technology to solve this and "supercharge" one of these cars already exists, however, to fully enact this technology we will need to see an entire system restructured so that the average consumer sees recharge stations on the road right alongside gas stations. 

I'm actually quite surprised that the Prius has dominated this long on the market so relatively unchallenged. With the dawn of electric cars on the almost near horizon the car buyer is in an interesting position. Either he can wait out the 5-10 or so years until there is an affordable and viable electric car on the market, or he can get in right now with a Hybrid. It's a tough decision but I think Hybrids are still viable for purchase for the next few years before the technology turns overwhelmingly in favor of electric. I'm excited to watch this transition happen, every year it seems more and more probable. 

However, I wish for as much focus on painting mass transportation a similar shade of green as there is for personal transportation. I would like to see high speed rails introduced in the United States and possibly more creative solutions to urban transportation than energy efficient busses. On the positive side, I've really been enjoying the growing number of bike lanes in cities all over the U.S. Such a huge change in just 10 years!
 It's really amazing how far we've come in such a short time in turning the world into a more eco-friendly playground. Though admittedly, the strides we've taken so far are often eclipsed by the vision of what we still need to do. But, still, let's keep it up!