Putting the zoom into electric cars

For the first time since the early 20th century, America is seeing a flowering of entrepreneurship in the auto industry. Today at least 11 new electric car companies, each working on a wide range of technologies, have launched or plan to launch models. These upstarts are not modest. They believe they can do what major automakers have failed to do: bring an electric car to the mass market.

Tango
Tango
Rick Woodbury had the idea for Tango while stuck in L.A. traffic jams in the early 1980s. Realizing that there was always just one person in every vehicle, he envisioned an electric commuter car that is narrow enough to drive between lanes in the same way as a motorcycle, and short enough to park perpendicularly to the curb. In 1998, Woodbury built his first Tango prototype from a 1968 Fiat 850 Spyder, tearing it apart and reducing the dimensions to 8.5 feet-by-39 inches. Today, the T600 retails for $108,000 to $148,000. The first-ever made T600 gained instant celebrity status when it was sold to George Clooney in 2005. The company is now building ten more cars (three will go to Google founder Sergey Brin), most of which will roll out in 2008. Next up: the T200 ($39,000) and T100 ($18,000).

Aptera

Tesla

Phoenix

Azure

Tango

Zenn
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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.