Electric Vehicles Quiz

The battery. Most of the other stuff is pretty much the same as any car, but batteries are big, heavy and expensive.

An electric motor. It's powered by batteries that are charged with, you know, electricity.

You can plug it into any old outlet. At home, you'll want to use a higher-voltage outlet. "You" being people who can afford one. (Future electric cars should cost less.)

True. This moves emissions away from the street (where you and I breathe them) to the power plant, which most people would argue is an improvement. Most electricity in the U.S. still comes from burning fossil fuels, mostly coal.

They aren't noisy enough. This is a serious danger for blind pedestrians, so electric car makers need to figure out what sounds to put on their cars.

True. Gas-powered cars burn gas, releasing plenty of heat that can be used to warm up the car. Electric cars need heaters.

Nissan Leaf, although, I think all of those would be excellent names for cars. I'd love to drive a Toyota Puppy. Some Nissan Leafs (Leaves?) were supposed to appear in the U.S. in 2010.

All of these vehicles run on electric motors. In the case of the nuclear submarine and the Coast Guard ship (and a lot of other ships), that electricity just happens to be generated on board, rather than at a far-off power plant.