Electric Car Race Heats Up

"Ford plans to make only 10,000 of the electric vehicles a year at first - very few by Detroit standards - to test the market cautiously.

The competition over electrics is picking up speed and players. Toyota, which has so far focused its efforts on hybrid models, will display a battery-powered concept car at the Detroit show. Nissan's chief executive, Carlos Ghosn, has promised to sell an electric car in the United States and Japan as early as next year.

The surge toward electric vehicles also appears to be jump-starting investments in advanced-battery production in the United States. General Motors will announce plans at the auto show to build a factory in the United States to assemble advanced batteries for its Chevrolet Volt model, which it expects to start selling next year."

"I think the days of the gasoline engine are numbered, even if we don't know exactly what that number is", said Daniel Becker, head of the Safe Climate Campaign, part of the Center for Auto Safety."