Electrifying

ONLY two years ago, electric vehicles (EVs) seemed the answer to worries about the noise, pollution and environmental destruction that the internal-combustion engine leaves in its wake. California had plans to require the car industry to build and sell tens of thousands of EVs a year in the Golden State. Then, regulators reluctantly accepted that drivers would revolt if they were forced to drive cars powered by expensive batteries that had a range of less than 100 miles and took up to eight hours to recharge.