With over twenty electric car models arriving at dealerships over the next three years, auto manufacturers feel that the battery powered cars will be the next big seller. The Obama administration is giving more than five billion in tax credits to buyers, and subsidized loans and grants to automakers in an effort to meet the goal of one million hybrids or electric cars on U.S. roads by 2015. But skeptics feel that hybrid and electric vehicles don’t make sense for most drivers, even with tax credits. Electric cars are too expensive, take too long to recharge and don’t provide enough driving range to be practical for most Americans. They feel that only 3% of drivers will actually buy the vehicles, because in order for electric cars to be cost effective for buyers, gas prices will have to rise to almost nine dollars a gallon.

Nonetheless, some of the biggest manufacturers in the auto industry are rushing to produce EVs. Honda recently pledged to put out an EV in 2012. Toyota is creating an electric version of its RAV4 sport-utility vehicle with Tesla Motors and a subcompact electric car based on its tiny IQ. Ford plans an electric version of its Focus compact and an electric van. BMW is building the MegaCity electric vehicle, which will feature carbon-fiber body panels to reduce weight and boost driving range.

Much of this is spearheaded by California’s laws that are requiring that the top six auto makers in California offer a zero-emission model by 2012 or face potentially huge fines. The only other alternative is to build electric models under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s clean-air and fuel-economy standards, which are set to get tighter in 2012, and receive government credits.