The 2010 Detroit and LA motor shows have a concentration of electric cars. These are either hybrid, where they are differentiated into two categories of "mild" and "full" - with the former simply acting as a battery booster to help out on engine performance but not able to run unassisted - or fully battery run in which case their mileage capacity remains low.

According to studies on future market share, despite the increased offering, electric cars are only expected to take a 6-10% share of the present conventional fossil fuel car market.

Audi has announced that its A8 with a hybrid motor will be on display at the Geneva auto show in March. It is planning to launch an entire line of electric cars under the name of e-tron.

BMW has produced a hybrid with 455 horsepower as part of its 7 series.

Chevrolet are showing the Volt, a plug-in electric vehicle.

The first light duty, all-electric Ford Ranger is being delivered to the City of Santa Monica for public use. The converted Ford Ranger uses a standard AC wall outlet to charge.

Honda has introduced the Insight, a gas-electric car.

Nissan manufactures the Leaf electric.

Toyota is planning another smaller Prius that uses only battery power and a plug-in Prius hybrid to bring the future line up to 8 cars. It is showing the concept for the FT-CH, a compact hybrid.

The new Tesla Roadster has enough space for 5 adults and 2 children and a 17-inch infotainment screen and the S model looks really competitive.

So what about eco-costs of building hybrid cars?

Jeremy Clarkson, who's famous for his tight-tongued British Top Gear TV series, finds it hard to believe that a hybrid car really offer a saving because it require two engines: 

"I cannot see how making a car with two motors costs the same in terms of resources as making a car with one.

The nickel for the battery has to come from somewhere. Canada, usually. It has to be shipped to Japan, not on a sailing boat, I presume. And then it must be converted, not in a tree house, into a battery, and then that battery must be transported, not on an ox cart, to the Insight production plant in Suzuka. And then the finished car has to be shipped, not by Thor Heyerdahl, to Britain, where it can be transported, not by wind, to the home of a man with a beard who thinks he’s doing the world a favour.

Why doesn’t he just buy a Range Rover, which is made from local components, just down the road? No, really — weird-beards buy locally produced meat and vegetables for eco-reasons. So why not apply the same logic to cars?"

It makes sense. So, what of the purely electric car? Surely it's cheaper because of being able to have fewer moving components in the engine, but what about the mileage? Seems as though we're really dependent on the guys (or gals if you read the December e-tech) who are in charge of battery experimentation and renewable energy storage at places like Ines, the National Institute of Solar Energy, France.