YOUR NEXT CAR...:

Today's electric vehicles promise several advantages over gas-powered cars. For commuters, there are no trips to the gas station--all you need is an outlet at home or work--and a full charge only costs a couple of dollars. And electric motors, which need only a single gear for all speeds, can also be surprisingly responsive and powerful. What's more, electric cars use no gasoline and emit no pollution. Even when you factor in the carbon emissions and pollution from the power plants that produce the electricity to power the cars, and from manufacturing and disposal, electric cars produce about 40 percent less carbon dioxide and ozone than conventional cars.

But for all their attributes, electric cars still are haunted by two damning factors: high costs and less-than-optimal batteries.

That's where Tesla hopes to make a difference. The company's innovative battery and charging technology has given it a substantial lead in making batteries cheaper and recharging quicker, and it's also helping Tesla lower costs faster than its competitors. [...]

Recharging was far easier than I'd expected, having once spent an afternoon charging a Chevrolet Volt at a standard public charging station to get just 30 miles of charge. The car recognized an RFID tag in the charger handle and automatically popped open the outlet door. By the time I'd walked across the parking lot, bought a cheeseburger, and carried it back to the car, the range was already up to 92 miles, plenty to finish the day's driving. I chatted with a Model S owner for a while and then got back on the road. I returned the car that evening with 129 miles of range left in the battery--more than the fully charged range of battery-electric cars from Toyota, Nissan, Ford, GM, Honda, Fiat, Renault, Mitsubishi, Smart, or Scion, or upcoming electric cars from Mercedes and BMW.

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