Automakers try to energize electric-car business
The race is on among the world's auto companies to make electric
cars go farther on a single charge, bring the price down to compete
with gas-powered vehicles, and give drivers more places to recharge
them than just the family garage.
Electric is the big buzz at the
63rd Frankfurt Auto Show this week, and nearly every major automaker
has at least one on display. Renault introduced no fewer than four
electric models, while Tesla, the only company producing and selling
purely electric cars, handed over the keys to its 700th all-electric
vehicle, a blue Roadster Sport, to a German buyer at the show.
If
the models unveiled Tuesday are any indication, the notion of electric
cars as small, stunted boxes with little range is about to be junked.