Energy: Battery Buggies Are Back

The public's new chance to give them a try

During the early days of automotion, battery-powered cars were the rage: in 1900, fully a third of the autos in New York City, Boston and Chicago ran on electricity. Now, in the era of the oil crisis, the electric auto has started to return, on drawing boards and occasionally on the road, moving slowly but polluting not at all. The Postal Service operates 380 electric Jeeps, and at least ten U.S. firms produce electrics for adventuresome customers. But electric cars are a long way from mass production. Who wants a car that cannot go...

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