ZERO TO 60 IN JUST FOUR SECONDS AND NO GAS TO BUY

Tesla, the upstart auto company based in Silicon Valley, unveiled its all-electric Roadster at a swank affair in Santa Monica last week. To appreciate the Tesla, it helps to compare it to the much-lamented EV1, GM's purpose-built electric car that was, in the mid-1990s, the most advanced vehicle of its kind. The Tesla Roadster has a range of 250 miles, says the company. The EV1, with the best nickel metal hydride batteries, could go about 150 miles under ideal conditions. A full charge of the EV1 could take eight hours. The Tesla's lithium-ion batteries can be raised from the dead to a full charge in 3 1/2 hours and, unlike the EV1, the Tesla will come with its own portable charging pack so it won't be range-tethered to its home charging station.

Big brakes, racy suspension, optional leather and navigation system, air conditioning, heated seats. There's even room for golf clubs. With the Tesla, the electric car seems poised to move past its groovy-granola beginnings. Tesla isn't the only bolt of battery-powered lightning out there. A Monaco-based company called Venturi has a production-ready electric sports car, the Fetish, which is nearly identical to the Tesla in size, weight, power, range and performance. The big difference is price: Compared with the $600,000-plus Venturi, the production Tesla ( about $85,000, due on sale in late 2007) might as well be sold at Best Buy.

The Wrightspeed X1 prototype, the work of another Silicon Valley startup, is based on the lattice-frame, open-wheel Ariel Atom built in England. It's even quicker: 0 to 60 mph in three seconds, with a quarter-mile time of 11.5 seconds. There's also the Tango commuter car, an oddly shaped four-wheel electric car-cum-motorcycle (sold as a kit car) whose most famous owner certainly is actor George Clooney. With its two motors serving up more than 1,000 pound-feet of combined torque, the Tango's acceleration is "like getting shot out of a cannon," says Tango president Rick Woodbury. During a summer when a popular documentary asks, "Who Killed the Electric Car?," the electric car seems to be contrarily alive and well and going like a bat out of hell. (excerpts from the article by Dan Neil in the Los Angeles Times)