• Pure electric cars never need a gas fill-up while others need one only once in a while.Refuelling by gasoline of the modern car image by terex from Fotolia.com
  
  While a number of attempts have been made at creating electric vehicles, including the EV1, created in the mid-1990s by General Motors and available on the road for a number of years before it was finally retired with the remainder of the cars collected and either destroyed or donated to museums, a newer crop of cars started to become available as of 2008 that are electric and road legal.
  
  

Nissan Leaf

• The first all-electric vehicle available to the general public from a major car manufacturer since the EV1 was taken off the market, the Nissan Leaf is aimed squarely at the average consumer market. The car is a sedan that offers both a number of charging stations at various garages and gas stations as well as a home charging station. As of October 2010, Nissan had announced that they have reservations for 20,000 of the vehicles and that they have temporarily stopped taking additional reservations until they deliver the cars at the end of 2010. As of 2010, the cars are available in just five states, California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona and Tennessee. However, Nissan expects to have the cars available everywhere as of 2012.
  
  

Tesla Motors Roadster

• Named for one of the pioneers of electricity and the man who invented the alternating current used in most people's homes (Thomas Edison promoted direct current), Tesla Motors was created in 2003 and put the Roadster on the market in 2008. The car is an all-electric sports vehicle available in a variety of colors. As of October 2010, Tesla Motors claims to have about 1,000 of the vehicles on the road in 25 countries.
  
  

Chevrolet Volt

• Available for the 2011 model year, the Chevrolet Volt is primarily an electric car; however it is not purely electric. It is what is known as a plug-in hybrid. The Volt's battery can travel for 40 miles, providing for city commutes and the like. If one were to stick to those kinds of short trips, the Volt would remain purely an electric vehicle. However, the car is also designed to provide power to the electric motor using gasoline once the charge runs down. It's not quite the same as the traditional hybrid cars since the gasoline is not used to power the car itself (traditional hybrid cars have two motors) but is instead burned to power the electric motor.