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To understand the history of the electric car it's useful to put it into context with the development of personal vehicles in general.

As the 20th Century loomed the predominant form of transport was still the horse. But as the fruits of the industrial revolution increased people's incomes and available technologies some were beginning to experiment with newer forms of transport.

At this point petrol, steam and electrical versions were available and each competed with the other for dominance in the market.

Steam technology was well established at this time and was generally understood and trusted by the public. It had, after all, proved its worth powering factories, mines, trains and ships - it seemed only a natural progression to build smaller forms of transport using steam engines.

Some self-propelled vehicles did exist from the late 1700's (notably Nicholas Joseph Cugnot's steam tricycle) but this technology wasn't really developed in this role until the late 1800's. Cugnot's Dampfwagen is widely accepted to be the world's the first automobile.

Cugnots Dampfwagen, circa 1769. Source: F. A. Brockhaus/Wikimedia Commons

But there was a problem - steam engines needed a long startup time often approaching an hour from cold. They also had a limited range and needed to be constantly fed with water.

When was the first car made, who invented the car?

This is not as easy a question to answer as you might think. It really depends on what you mean by car or automobile.

Throughout history, there have been various examples of 'the first car' and thus inventors. Here are some of the more notable ones.

As we've previously seen Nicholas Joseph Cugnot developed an early steam-powered automobile as early as 1769. His Dampfwagen was actually a form of an early tractor that was used to haul artillery and is considered the first automobile.

But since a car is defined as:-

"A road vehicle, typically with four wheels, powered by an internal combustion engine and able to carry a small number of people." - Oxford English Dictionary.

This isn't really the case.

However, by François Isaac de Rivaz had developed an early internal combustion engine that was actually fueled using hydrogen. His engine powered a 'rickety' four-wheel contraption that held the hydrogen fuel in a balloon and ignited it using a Volta starter.

But would you count this as the first car?

The first widely accepted internal combustion engine (powered using gasoline) was developed by Siegfried Marcus in 1870.

Siegfried further developed his invention to create the first two-cycle, and later a four-cycle, engines in around 1880. These engines also incorporated carburetor's, magneto ignition and later models of his car also featured steering, a clutch, and brake.

If you consider his car to be a 'true' car then Siegfried is your man.

But automobile and car innovation were about to be kicked into top gear.

Otto, Diesel, Benz and Ford get in on the act

The four-stroke engine, still prevalent today, was developed by Nikolaus Otto in 1862 and the diesel engine was developed by Rudolf Diesel in 1893.

A little later Karl Benz developed his revolutionary 'world's first production vehicle' in 1886 and The Ford Model T was 'mass produced' automobile in the early 1900's.

Despite the power and utility internal combustion engines provided at the time, especially compared to steam and horse-powered alternatives, they weren't without their problems.

They were less than easy to drive, needing significant effort to change gears and start the engine in the first place. These vehicles were also very loud and the exhaust fumes were less than pleasant.

But there was a third (well fourth if you include animals) option - electric cars. These lacked many of the issues that other alternatives had. They were, like today, quiet, relatively easy to operate and had no emissions of any kind.

Early electric cars were an ideal alternative to combustion and steam engines

Early electric cars found a lucrative market for driving around cities. Some of their main consumers included women who found they were perfect for shorts trips around the city.

One of the first practical electrical cars was invented by British inventor Thomas Parker in around 1884. Another famous example of early electric cars was The Flocken Elektrowagen, was produced in Germany in 1888.

Sadly poor roads outside of urban centers made it difficult for early electric (and steam/gasoline) cars to venture far beyond the city limits. As electrification rolled out in the 1910's charging these early electric cars became considerably easier and greatly boosted their public appeal.

Car manufacturers at the time began to take notice and started experimenting with electrical and early hybrid cars. One notable example was Porsche founder, Ferdinand Porsche, who developed his famous P1 in 1898 (this was also his first ever car).

Thomas Edison also threw his weight behind early electric cars believing in their superiority to other alternatives and worked to develop better performance batteries. Henry Ford (who happened to be a close friend of Edison) partnered with him to explore options for low-cost electrical cars around 1914.

Ironically, or perhaps intentionally, Ford's development of the Model T, specifically his mass production process, would sound the death knell for early electric cars of the time. A Model T in 1912 cost around $650 a piece - an electric alternative cost almost three times that at around $1,750.

Other developments in gasoline engines, like the Charles Kettering's electrical starter (though H. J. Dowsing patented an earlier example in 1896), removed one of the main irritations of combustion engines at the time - the hand crank. Electric Vehicles received their coup de grace when road systems were improved and abundant reserves of crude oil began to be discovered.

These, and other factors, all contributed to the fall of electric cars of the period with them all but disappearing by around 1935. The battle seemed won, for the next 30 years combustion engine vehicles would rule supreme.

That was until the Oil Crisis of the 1970's.

Flocken Elektrowagen built 1888. Source: Henrysirhenry/Wikimedia Commons

Who made the first electric car?

Like combustion engine cars there was no single inventor of electric cars. Their emergence and development should be considered more of a series of discoveries and inventions that would ultimately 'coalesce' into what we recognize today as the electric car.

The discovery of electricity aside, the first prerequisite needed to develop electric cars was a reliable rechargeable battery.

Anyos Jedlik, a Hungarian inventor, developed an early electrical motor in 1828. Using his new invention he also developed an early 'proof of concept' for using electricity as a means of transportation by building a small model car that could be moved using his motor.

A little later, in 1834, a Vermont Blacksmith, Thomas Davenport, built another small model electric vehicle that was able to run on a small, circular, electrical track.

As impressive as these were they lacked self-contained rechargeable power sources and, therefore, had limited utility as a mode of transport if upscaled.

The world would need to wait until 1859 when French Physicist Guston Plante developed his lead-acid battery.

The technology was further improved by another Frenchman, Camille Alphonse Faure, who significantly increased the capacity of the battery in 1881. This development enabled the production of batteries on an industrial scale.

Modern Lead Acid rechargeable battery. Source: Bisapien/Wikimedia Commons

With a reliable and rechargeable power source in hand, other inventors could begin to experiment with electricity and locomotion.

When were electric cars invented?

As we've seen exactly when the electric car was invented is more of a series of events than a specific date. That being said after the early developments above there are some contenders for the 'first' electric cars below, depending on your idea of what constitutes a fully formed one.

An interesting early development of electric cars was made in 1834 by Professor Sibrandus Stratingh of Groningen, the Netherlands (and his assistant Christopher Becker) who both created a small-scale electrical car, powered by non-rechargeable primary cells.

Sadly, Stratingh was unable to develop his 'car' further as he died shortly after in 1841.

A little later in 1867, an Austrian inventor Franz Kravogl displayed his electric car prototype at the World Exposition in Paris. This was an electrically-powered two-wheeled cycle that was not very reliable to drive on the street.

In 1881, Gustave Trouve tested a three-wheeler automobile along the streets of Paris. This followed his development of the world's first outboard engine from which he used the motor as the drive mechanism of his tested Coventry-Rotary pedal tricycle.

Although not a car it was a key invention on the road to a full e-car.

But it wasn't until 1884 that a British Inventor, Thomas Parker (who also electrified the London Underground) built the first production electric car. Parker powered his car using his own specially designed rechargeable high-capacity batteries.

The first successful electric automobile, The Electrobat, was developed by Mechanical Engineer Henry G. Morris and Chemist Pedro G. Salom in 1894 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This was a slow and heavy contraption with steel tires to resist the weight of its heavy frame and large lead battery.

Across the pond, in the U.S., William Morrison of Des Moines in Iowa developed a six-passenger electric car (wagon) that was capable of reaching 23 km/h. In 1895, consumers began to take notice of this 'new-fangled technology' following A. L. Ryker's introduction of all-electric tricycles in the U.S.

Various other inventors and engineers developed a series of other models throughout this period that climaxed in an electric car making the first ever speed record on the 18th December 1898.

After these further developments in electric car technology flourished, it was a literal 'golden age' for the technology. As a result, interest in electric cars was rising throughout the later 1890's and early 20th Century.

Electric battery-powered taxis started to become available around the time - notably Walter C. Bersey's fleet of cabs in London that was introduced in 1897.

Despite their advantages over gasoline cars of the time, a lack of electrical infrastructure at the time did hold back their mass-adoption by consumers. This would mark the decline of electric cars at the time with them being completely eclipsed by combustion engine cars when large deposits of petroleum were discovered worldwide.

By 1910, most electric car manufacturers had either gone out of business or stopped production completely. The technology persisted for specialist uses like forklift trucks, milk floats in the UK, golf carts and some niche vehicles like the Henney Kilowatt but it generally stayed on the sidelines until its renaissance later in the 20th Century.

GM's first electric car

Although GM did experiment with electric vehicles as early as the mid-1960's their first concept, the Electrovair never made it to mass-production. It was based on the 1966 Corvair and was powered using a silver-zinc battery pack that could deliver 532 volts.

Fast forward a few decades and General Motors decided to "give it try" once again (well not entirely voluntarily as you will see).

Their first modern-age electric car, the General Motors EV1, was developed in the mid-1990's. The EV1 was the first electric car to be mass-produced (and purpose-built) in the modern era by a major car manufacturer.

This humble looking car also had a few others first to add to its already trophy rack.

- It was the first to be designed from the ground up to be an EV by GM.

- The EV1 was also the first (and only) passenger car marketed under the GM brand and not one of its divisions

GM's decision to design and built the EV1 was inspired, in part, by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) who passed a mandate that required major U.S. manufacturers to develop zero-emission vehicles if they wished to continue marketing their goods in the state.

When was the first Tesla car made?

Tesla Motors produced their very first electric car, the Roadster, in 2008. This vehicle was a revolution in the modern age of the electric vehicle and featured cutting-edge battery technology and electric powertrain.

The original Roadster is a battery electric vehicle (BEV) and was the first highway legal serial production all-electric car to ever use a lithium-ion battery as a power source. It is also the first all-electric car capable of traveling more than 320 kilometers per charge.

It can also reach an incredible top speed of 200 km/h.

Of course, in recent years it can now add a very unique epithet to its already impressive list - the first production car to ever be launched into space.

Between its production years (2008-2012), over 2,450 Roadsters were sold in over 30 countries around the world.

An abbreviated electric car history timeline

Here is a selection of events in the history of the electric car. This timeline is not exhaustive.

'Pre-Electric Car Age'

Prehistory-1700's

Discovery of Electricity

1769

Nicholas Joseph Cugnot's Dampfwagen

1828

Anyos Jedlik builds a working motor and small toy EV

1834

Thomas Devenport builds another model car that is powered using batteries

1834

Professor Sibrandus Stratingh creates his own model car using non-rechargeable primary cells

1859

Guston Plante invents the Lead-Acid battery

1867

Franz Kravogl builds a working electrically powered bicycle

'Golden Age'

1881

Camille Alphonse Faure improves Plante's battery's capacity

1881

Gustave Trouve builds an electrically powered tricycle

1884

Thomas Parker's high-capacity rechargeable battery and electric car

1888

The Flocken Elektrowagen

1894

The Electrobat is invented

1895

William Morrison builds his 6-passenger electric car/wagon

1896

Electrical starter motor for gasoline engines makes them more practical and more convenient for consumers

1897

Electric taxis begin to appear

1898

The first ever speed record is set in an electric car

1898

Porsche's P1 is developed

1901

Porsche develops the first electric hybrid

1912

Model T Ford sparks the beginning of the end of 'Golden Age'

1910-1920's

Large reservoirs of petroleum and crude oil push electric vehicles ends the Golden Age. Many makers stop building EV's.

'Dark Ages'

1920's - 1950's

Little advancement is made between this period. Electrical vehicles are limited to specialist roles in industry. Outside of this most electric cars have all but disappeared by 1935.

1950's - 1961

Henney Kilowatt

1959

AMC and Sonotone Corp. join forces to develop a "self-charging" battery powered car.

1965

Scottish Aviation Scamp

1969

Rambler American Station Wagon

'Renaissance'

1970

Clean Air Act is passed

1972

First BMW electric car the 1602 E was unveiled but never produced

1974-1982

Sebring-Vanguard Citicar

1976

U.S. Congress passed the "Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Research, Development, and Demonstration Act"

1990

GM Impact Electric Concept Car

1990's

Many governments around the world produce "Clean Air Acts" or amend existing ones and introduce Energy Policies. Major car manufacturers respond.

1996

GM EV1 produced but lost GM money

1997

The Toyota Prius is born

1999

Scientists work to improve EV's and their batteries

2004

Tesla Motors is founded

2009 -

In the U.S. and across the world charging station infrastructures begin to roll out

2010

GM releases the first Plug-in Hybrid the Chevy Bolt

2010-onwards

EV battery costs plummet and various other major car brands beginning developing their own long-range, highway capable cars such as Nissan (Leaf), BMW, VW etc.

Who made the first hybrid car?

Easy, the Toyota Prius right? Sadly not. According to records, the first electric vehicle was actually developed much earlier.

In 1889, a gasoline-electric hybrid rail-car was devised by one William H. Patton.

Although not a car by our definition, it's still a very interesting concept. The same chap also adapted his design for use in a boat propulsion system the same year.

A little later in 1901, whilst working at the Lohner Coach Factory, one Ferdinand Porsche developed his Mixte. This was a four-wheel-drive hybrid version of the "System Lohner-Porsche" electrical carriage that was displayed at the Paris World Fair of the same year.

The Mixte is widely considered as the world's first hybrid automobile. The first prototypes of this vehicle were two-wheel drive, were powered using batteries and had two front-wheel hub-mounted motors.

Some also attribute the honor of 'first hybrid' to an automobile developed in 1905. Henri Piper, a German-Belgian Inventor, produced his own hybrid vehicle that consisted of an electric motor and generator, batteries and a small gasoline engine.

The electrical motor was used to charge the battery at cruise speed with both motors used for acceleration and traversing steep inclines.

What's the difference between hybrid and plug-in cars?

There have been a few terms thrown around in this article, and sources, so it probably worth clearing up any misunderstanding.

- A hybrid (HEV) cannot be charged from the mains (or charge station) but does have a battery and electric drive. Main drive energy comes from liquid fuel (usually gasoline)

- A plug-in hybrid (PHEV) can be charged from an electrical source and can be driven using either its battery or liquid fuel

- All-electric vehicles (EV, AEV, battery-electric cars etc) gets all of its drive energy from its battery and must be recharged from an electric source

- Plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) is simply a catch-all term for any of the above that can be completely or partially recharged from an electric source (mains or charge station).

Electrical vehicles have had an interesting if challenging history. Whatever their future may have in store is going to be fascinating to see.

In case you consider buying one yourself, they do have some clear advantages and disadvantages over conventional combustion engine cars.

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A Brief History and Evolution of Electric Cars

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To understand the history of the electric car it's useful to put it into context with the development of personal vehicles in general. As the 20th Century loomed the predominant form of transport was still the horse. But as the fruits of the industrial revolution increased people's incomes and available technologies some were beginning to experiment with newer forms of transport.

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History and Transition

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Introduced more than 100 years ago, electric cars are seeing a rise in popularity today for many of the same reasons they were first popular.

Whether it's a hybrid, plug-in hybrid or all-electric, the demand for electric drive vehicles will continue to climb as prices drop and consumers look for ways to save money at the pump. Currently more than 3 percent of new vehicle sales, electric vehicles sales could to grow to nearly 7 percent -- or 6.6 million per year -- worldwide by 2020, according to a report by Navigant Research.

With this growing interest in electric vehicles, we are taking a look at where this technology has been and where it's going. Travel back in time with us as we explore the history of the electric car.

The birth of the electric vehicle

It's hard to pinpoint the invention of the electric car to one inventor or country. Instead it was a series of breakthroughs -- from the battery to the electric motor -- in the 1800s that led to the first electric vehicle on the road.

In the early part of the century, innovators in Hungary, the Netherlands and the United States -- including a blacksmith from Vermont -- began toying with the concept of a battery-powered vehicle and created some of the first small-scale electric cars. And while Robert Anderson, a British inventor, developed the first crude electric carriage around this same time, it wasn't until the second half of the 19th century that French and English inventors built some of the first practical electric cars.

Here in the U.S., the first successful electric car made its debut around 1890 thanks to William Morrison, a chemist who lived in Des Moines, Iowa. His six-passenger vehicle capable of a top speed of 14 miles per hour was little more than an electrified wagon, but it helped spark interest in electric vehicles.

Over the next few years, electric vehicles from different automakers began popping up across the U.S. New York City even had a fleet of more than 60 electric taxis. By 1900, electric cars were at their heyday, accounting for around a third of all vehicles on the road. During the next 10 years, they continued to show strong sales.

The early rise and fall of the electric car

To understand the popularity of electric vehicles circa 1900, it is also important to understand the development of the personal vehicle and the other options available. At the turn of the 20th century, the horse was still the primary mode of transportation. But as Americans became more prosperous, they turned to the newly invented motor vehicle -- available in steam, gasoline or electric versions -- to get around.

Steam was a tried and true energy source, having proved reliable for powering factories and trains. Some of the first self-propelled vehicles in the late 1700s relied on steam; yet it took until the 1870s for the technology to take hold in cars. Part of this is because steam wasn't very practical for personal vehicles. Steam vehicles required long startup times -- sometimes up to 45 minutes in the cold -- and would need to be refilled with water, limiting their range.

As electric vehicles came onto the market, so did a new type of vehicle -- the gasoline-powered car -- thanks to improvements to the internal combustion engine in the 1800s. While gasoline cars had promise, they weren't without their faults. They required a lot of manual effort to drive -- changing gears was no easy task and they needed to be started with a hand crank, making them difficult for some to operate. They were also noisy, and their exhaust was unpleasant.

Electric cars didn't have any of the issues associated with steam or gasoline. They were quiet, easy to drive and didn't emit a smelly pollutant like the other cars of the time. Electric cars quickly became popular with urban residents -- especially women. They were perfect for short trips around the city, and poor road conditions outside cities meant few cars of any type could venture farther. As more people gained access to electricity in the 1910s, it became easier to charge electric cars, adding to their popularity with all walks of life (including some of the "best known and prominent makers of gasoline cars" as a 1911 New York Times article pointed out).

Many innovators at the time took note of the electric vehicle's high demand, exploring ways to improve the technology. For example, Ferdinand Porsche, founder of the sports car company by the same name, developed an electric car called the P1 in 1898. Around the same time, he created the world's first hybrid electric car -- a vehicle that is powered by electricity and a gas engine. Thomas Edison, one of the world's most prolific inventors, thought electric vehicles were the superior technology and worked to build a better electric vehicle battery. Even Henry Ford, who was friends with Edison, partnered with Edison to explore options for a low-cost electric car in 1914, according to Wired.

Yet, it was Henry Ford's mass-produced Model T that dealt a blow to the electric car. Introduced in 1908, the Model T made gasoline-powered cars widely available and affordable. By 1912, the gasoline car cost only $650, while an electric roadster sold for $1,750. That same year, Charles Kettering introduced the electric starter, eliminating the need for the hand crank and giving rise to more gasoline-powered vehicle sales.

Other developments also contributed to the decline of the electric vehicle. By the 1920s, the U.S. had a better system of roads connecting cities, and Americans wanted to get out and explore. With the discovery of Texas crude oil, gas became cheap and readily available for rural Americans, and filling stations began popping up across the country. In comparison, very few Americans outside of cities had electricity at that time. In the end, electric vehicles all but disappeared by 1935.

Gas shortages spark interest in electric vehicles

Over the next 30 years or so, electric vehicles entered a sort of dark ages with little advancement in the technology. Cheap, abundant gasoline and continued improvement in the internal combustion engine hampered demand for alternative fuel vehicles.

Fast forward to the late 1960s and early 1970s. Soaring oil prices and gasoline shortages -- peaking with the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo -- created a growing interest in lowering the U.S.'s dependence on foreign oil and finding homegrown sources of fuel. Congress took note and passed the Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1976, authorizing the Energy Department to support research and development in electric and hybrid vehicles.

Around this same time, many big and small automakers began exploring options for alternative fuel vehicles, including electric cars. For example, General Motors developed a prototype for an urban electric car that it displayed at the Environmental Protection Agency's First Symposium on Low Pollution Power Systems Development in 1973, and the American Motor Company produced electric delivery jeeps that the United States Postal Service used in a 1975 test program. Even NASA helped raise the profile of the electric vehicle when its electric Lunar rover became the first manned vehicle to drive on the moon in 1971.

Yet, the vehicles developed and produced in the 1970s still suffered from drawbacks compared to gasoline-powered cars. Electric vehicles during this time had limited performance -- usually topping at speeds of 45 miles per hour -- and their typical range was limited to 40 miles before needing to be recharged.

Environmental concern drives electric vehicles forward

Fast forward again -- this time to the 1990s. In the 20 years since the long gas lines of the 1970s, interest in electric vehicles had mostly died down. But new federal and state regulations begin to change things. The passage of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendment and the 1992 Energy Policy Act -- plus new transportation emissions regulations issued by the California Air Resources Board -- helped create a renewed interest in electric vehicles in the U.S.

During this time, automakers began modifying some of their popular vehicle models into electric vehicles. This meant that electric vehicles now achieved speeds and performance much closer to gasoline-powered vehicles, and many of them had a range of 60 miles.

One of the most well-known electric cars during this time was GM's EV1, a car that was heavily featured in the 2006 documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? Instead of modifying an existing vehicle, GM designed and developed the EV1 from the ground up. With a range of 80 miles and the ability to accelerate from 0 to 50 miles per hour in just seven seconds, the EV1 quickly gained a cult following. But because of high production costs, the EV1 was never commercially viable, and GM discontinued it in 2001.

With a booming economy, a growing middle class and low gas prices in the late 1990s, many consumers didn't worry about fuel-efficient vehicles. Even though there wasn't much public attention to electric vehicles at this time, behind the scenes, scientists and engineers -- supported by the Energy Department -- were working to improve electric vehicle technology, including batteries.

A new beginning for electric cars

While all the starts and stops of the electric vehicle industry in the second half of the 20th century helped show the world the promise of the technology, the true revival of the electric vehicle didn't happen until around the start of the 21st century. Depending on whom you ask, it was one of two events that sparked the interest we see today in electric vehicles.

The first turning point many have suggested was the introduction of the Toyota Prius. Released in Japan in 1997, the Prius became the world's first mass-produced hybrid electric vehicle. In 2000, the Prius was released worldwide, and it became an instant success with celebrities, helping to raise the profile of the car. To make the Prius a reality, Toyota used a nickel metal hydride battery -- a technology that was supported by the Energy Department's research. Since then, rising gasoline prices and growing concern about carbon pollution have helped make the Prius the best-selling hybrid worldwide during the past decade.

(Historical footnote: Before the Prius could be introduced in the U.S., Honda released the Insight hybrid in 1999, making it the first hybrid sold in the U.S. since the early 1900s.)

The other event that helped reshape electric vehicles was the announcement in 2006 that a small Silicon Valley startup, Tesla Motors, would start producing a luxury electric sports car that could go more than 200 miles on a single charge. In 2010, Tesla received at $465 million loan from the Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office -- a loan that Tesla repaid a full nine years early -- to establish a manufacturing facility in California. In the short time since then, Tesla has won wide acclaim for its cars and has become the largest auto industry employer in California.

Tesla's announcement and subsequent success spurred many big automakers to accelerate work on their own electric vehicles. In late 2010, the Chevy Volt and the Nissan LEAF were released in the U.S. market. The first commercially available plug-in hybrid, the Volt has a gasoline engine that supplements its electric drive once the battery is depleted, allowing consumers to drive on electric for most trips and gasoline to extend the vehicle's range. In comparison, the LEAF is an all-electric vehicle (often called a battery-electric vehicle, an electric vehicle or just an EV for short), meaning it is only powered by an electric motor.

Over the next few years, other automakers began rolling out electric vehicles in the U.S.; yet, consumers were still faced with one of the early problems of the electric vehicle -- where to charge their vehicles on the go. Through the Recovery Act, the Energy Department invested more than $115 million to help build a nation-wide charging infrastructure, installing more than 18,000 residential, commercial and public chargers across the country. Automakers and other private businesses also installed their own chargers at key locations in the U.S., bringing today's total of public electric vehicle chargers to more than 8,000 different locations with more than 20,000 charging outlets.

At the same time, new battery technology -- supported by the Energy Department's Vehicle Technologies Office -- began hitting the market, helping to improve a plug-in electric vehicle's range. In addition to the battery technology in nearly all of the first generation hybrids, the Department's research also helped develop the lithium-ion battery technology used in the Volt. More recently, the Department's investment in battery research and development has helped cut electric vehicle battery costs by 50 percent in the last four years, while simultaneously improving the vehicle batteries' performance (meaning their power, energy and durability). This in turn has helped lower the costs of electric vehicles, making them more affordable for consumers.

Consumers now have more choices than ever when it comes to buying an electric vehicle. Today, there are 23 plug-in electric and 36 hybrid models available in a variety of sizes -- from the two-passenger Smart ED to the midsized Ford C-Max Energi to the BMW i3 luxury SUV. As gasoline prices continue to rise and the prices on electric vehicles continue to drop, electric vehicles are gaining in popularity -- with more than 234,000 plug-in electric vehicles and 3.3 million hybrids on the road in the U.S. today.

The future of electric cars

It's hard to tell where the future will take electric vehicles, but it's clear they hold a lot of potential for creating a more sustainable future. If we transitioned all the light-duty vehicles in the U.S. to hybrids or plug-in electric vehicles using our current technology mix, we could reduce our dependence on foreign oil by 30-60 percent, while lowering the carbon pollution from the transportation sector by as much as 20 percent.

To help reach these emissions savings, in 2012 President Obama launched the EV Everywhere Grand Challenge -- an Energy Department initiative that brings together America's best and brightest scientists, engineers and businesses to make plug-in electric vehicles more as affordable as today's gasoline-powered vehicles by 2022. On the battery front, the Department's Joint Center for Energy Storage Research at Argonne National Laboratory is working to overcome the biggest scientific and technical barriers that prevent large-scale improvements of batteries.

And the Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) is advancing game-changing technologies that could alter how we think of electric vehicles. From investing in new types of batteries that could go further on a single charge to cost-effective alternatives to materials critical to electric motors, ARPA-E's projects could transform electric vehicles.

In the end, only time will tell what road electric vehicles will take in the future.

What's the Difference?

A hybrid electric vehicle (or HEV for short) is a vehicle without the capacity to plug in but has an electric drive system and battery. It's driving energy comes only from liquid fuel. Learn about the history of the hybrid -- from the world's first one to the world's best selling one.

A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (also called a PHEV) is a vehicle with plug-in capability, and it can use energy for driving from either its battery or liquid fuel. Read about the first commercially available plug-in hybrid.

An all-electric vehicle (often called a battery-electric vehicle, an electric vehicle, or an EV or AEV for short) is a vehicle that gets its energy for driving entirely from its battery and it must be plugged in to be recharged. Explore the evolution of the electric vehicle, covering everything from its early popularity to the middle ages to its revival today.

A plug-in electric vehicle (or PEV) is any vehicle that can be plugged in (either a plug-in hybrid or an all-electric vehicle). Learn how plug-in electric vehicles could help us create a more sustainable future.

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Travel back in time with us as we explore the history of the electric vehicle.

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There's now a section dedicated to writing prompts for children of primary/elementary school age.

Generate a fictitious,'English-sounding' town name.

Get plot ideas for your own story-writing by looking at the plots of over 100 popular films.

Use images to help you write.

Generate random traits for your characters.

Generate an occupation for your character.

Choose first and last names for characters.

Develop your character into a well-rounded person, quirky habits and all.

Exercise your brain and keep your vocabulary in good shape with this free anagram game.

Another anagram game - each word must contain the middle letter.

Enter a list of letters and discover all the words you can make with them.

Have fun improving your Scrabble vocabulary.

Because every aspiring author needs a back-up plan...

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This site provides (completely free) writing prompts and exercises to help you get started with creative writing and break through writing blocks - and some fun anagram vocabulary games. Generate random story ideas, plots, subjects, scenarios, characters, first lines for stories and more. Did I mention it's all free?

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It's so cool.

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Boosting Your English Listening Skills

Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab has been providing online English listening comprehension activities for ESL and EFL learners since 1998. Visit Randall's other Web sites at DailyESL.com, EZslang.com, and Trainyouraccent.com for more language practice.

General ESL Listening Quizzes

Activities focus on everyday English comprehension skills at three levels based on content, voices, vocabulary, and natural speed. A combination of adult, teenage, and children's voices are included.

Explore More English Listening Activities

Randall has created a variety of other ESL listening activities to improve your comprehension, speaking, vocabulary, and cultural awareness.

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Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab - English Listening

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Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab helps ESL and EFL learners improve their English listening comprehension skills through conversations.

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Série animada de comédia sobre uma família de classe operária. FOX para todos em qualquer lugar, o seu site de entretenimento