We caught up with 29 electric car manufacturers and developers to find out what they’re doing today. Some are still going strong, some have begun actively producing their cars, and some … well, not every startup can survive.
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This list is sorted according to car availability and release dates based on publicly available information.
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Battery-Powered Electric Cars
Battery-powered electric cars are emerging as reliable forms of transportation. The Nissan Leaf is currently the leader in the early adopter market for battery-powered electric cars. It costs around $35,000 and has a range of around 100 miles. Tesla Motors’ cars have much higher ranges — the Model S is expected to be able to travel around 300 miles between charges — but are more expensive. Battery-powered electric vehicles face longer turnaround times than hybrids because they take longer to charge than filling up a gas tank.
American Electric Vehicle (AEV) advises its potential drivers to “slow down,” which seems like wise advice, given the golf cart-inspired design of its Kurrent car. Still, it’s ridiculously cheap.
Price: $10,000
Range/Top Speed: 40 miles/25mph
Release date: Available now
The Tango is an oddball. It’s less than half the width of a normal car, and two can fit in a single lane. It also accelerates like a bat out of hell, going from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 4 seconds. But this guy will cost you an arm and a leg. Future versions are planned to be much cheaper, and have longer ranges.
Price: $108,000
Range/Top Speed: 80 miles/150mph
Release date: Available now
This Canadian company sells five different models, although they all look relatively similar. The IT Sedan is another slow-moving electric car, which brings the cost of the car down.
Price: $19,000
Range/Top Speed: 30 miles/24mph
Release Date: Available now
Somewhat reminiscent of the Think (now in the deadpool section below), the Buddy is currently only available in its first launch country, Norway.
Price: $28,000
Range/Top Speed: 37 miles/56mph
Release Date: Available now
The FB-3000, which bears a strong resemblance to the Smart Car, is produced in China.
Price: $10,000
Range/Top Speed: 60 miles/35mph
Release Date: Available now
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GEM is a division of Chrysler. Its vehicles resemble golf carts. Polaris Industries acquired the company earlier this year. It currently has six vehicles that are primarily geared to intra-city use.
Price: $7,500
Range/Top Speed: 35 miles/25mph
Release Date: Available now
Myers Motors: NmG (No more Gas)
Price: $22,500
Range/Top Speed: 30 miles/75mph
Release Date: Available now
Reva: G-Wiz
Price: $16,000
Range/Top Speed: 50 miles/50mph
Release Date: Available now
Smith Electric Vehicles: Edison
Price: Unconfirmed
Range/Top Speed: 100 miles/50mph
Release Date: Available now
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The company sold out its 2007 Twike line of three-wheeled vehicles. It’s based in Switzerland, but sells in several other countries, including the United States. The company has sold between 20 and 25 Twikes in the U.S. The Twike is registered as a motor cycle by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Price: $24,400
Range/Top Speed: 80 miles/53mph
Release Date: Available now
Venturi: Fétish
Price: $400,000
Range/Top Speed: 155 miles/100mph
Release Date: Available now
Universal Electric Vehicles: Spyder
Price: $70,000
Range/Top Speed: 300 miles/80mph
Release Date: Available Now
Miles Electric Vehicles specializes in low-speed cars and trucks that don’t require a lot of juice to run. The vehicles are also cheap because they don’t have to include the same safety standards that higher-speed cars require, such as airbags.
Price: $19,500
Range/Top Speed: 40 to 50 miles/25mph
Release Date: Available Now
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Zap! Electric Cars stopped producing the Xebra, its earlier electric car model, in 2008. Its next car is the sporty Alias. The company has also begun work on the A380, an SUV that Zap! says can travel around 350 miles on a single charge. The website indicates that the Alias was supposed to go into production in June, but there are no new details. The company is based in Santa Rosa, Calif.
Price: $38,500
Range/Top Speed: 100 miles/85mph
Release Date: “Accepting reservations”
This is the United Kingdom’s answer to the Tesla Roadster. The Lightning GT is still slated for a 2012 delivery, and the company is taking pre-orders for the car.
Price: $293,000
Range/Top Speed: 150 miles/124mph
Release Date: 2012
The Arcimoto SRK is a two-seater battery-powered electric vehicle. It’s a bit like a three-wheeled electric powered jeep. Like other independent electric car makers, the company has a pretty small retail footprint.
Price: $17,500
Range/Top Speed: 160 miles/65mph
Release Date: Late 2012
The first shipments of the Silicon Valley-based company’s second electric car, the Model S, are expected early next year. Tesla Motors is working on a battery-powered electric SUV called the Model X, which it will unveil later this year.
Price: $57,400 (Model S)
Range/Top Speed: 300 miles/120mph
Release Date: early 2012 (Model S)
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Phoenix Motorcars was originally planning to produce a sport-utility vehicle, but it has halted development as of last year. The company has since begun working on a sport-utility truck that’s due next year. The company is based in Ontario, Calif.
Price: $45,000
Range/Top Speed: 70 miles/80mph
Release Date: 2012
These tiny, unusual little vehicles are powered entirely by compressed air. Motor Development International unveiled a concept car, the AirPod, in 2009 and has since started working on several other air-powered cars. The company is based in Carros, France.
Price: $12,600
Range/Top Speed: 110 miles/68mph
Release Date: 2013
In August, Aptera was forced to return 2,500 $500 security deposits due to a snafu with its credit card processor. The company filed for a $184 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy but was denied. It’s still waiting to hear back about approval for a $75 million loan.
Price: $30,000
Range/Top Speed: 100 miles/TBA
Release Date: TBA
The Persu is a sleek three-wheeled electric scooter-like car that looks like it comes out of a sci-fi film. The car has plenty of buzz and showed up on Top Gear, a show that tests out supercars like the Tesla Roadster. Persu is based in Los Angeles, Calif.
Price: $25,000
Range/Top Speed: 350 miles/100mph
Release Date: 2014
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A Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers-backed electric car manufacturer, Proterra specializes in making buses powered by electric motors. Those buses are meant for public transportation in large cities like Chicago and San Francisco.
Price: TBA
Range/Top Speed: 400 miles/65mph
Release Date: TBA
The Mission One PLE is a concept electric motorbike produced by Mission Motors. The company licenses its electric motors and powertrains out to other car manufacturers. Mission Motors is based in San Francisco, Calif.
Price: TBA
Range/Top Speed: 150 miles/150mph
Release Date: TBA
Wrightspeed recently cut the ribbon on a manufacturing plant for its supercharged electric car, the X-1. That car was last spotted on a track in April racing past a Tesla Roadster, for those of you keeping score. The X-1 is a formula one-esque supercar developed by Ian Wright, originally a founding team member of Tesla Motors.
Price: TBA
Range/Top Speed: 100 miles/104mph
Release Date: TBA
Extended-Range Hybrids
Recent years have seen the emergence of extended-range electric hybrid cars. Those models run off a battery for a shorter distance — typically between 25 and 50 miles. When the battery runs dry, the car switches to gasoline to power a motor and recharge the battery. It gives the electric cars a much larger extended range, but they are effectively electric cars if they are mostly driven short distances.
The Karma is Fisker’s first high-end hybrid electric sedan. The car can travel around 50 miles on an electric battery before switching to an internal combustion engine to recharge the battery. The company is well-funded and delivered its first Karma to Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner Ray Lane earlier this year.
Price: $97,000
Range/Top Speed: 50 miles EV/125mph
Release Date: 2012
Now this is a super car — the Velozzi VELO can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in less than 3 seconds and boasts a top speed of more than 200 miles per hour. It’s a hybrid electric vehicle.
Price: “Serious inquiries only”
Range/Top Speed: TBA/200mph
Release Date: Available Today
The BMW i8 is the German car manufacturer’s first luxury extended-range hybrid sedan. It looks like the car will go toe-to-toe with the Fisker Karma, a similar high-end extended-range hybrid.
Price: TBA
Range/Top Speed: 20 miles EV/120mph
Release Date: 2013
The Ford Evos is Ford’s first extended-range hybrid electric car that uses a similar powertrain to the Fisker Karma and BMW i8. The concept car features gullwing doors — like the DeLorean from Back to the Future — and looks like it will be a more direct competitor with the Chevy Volt.
Price: TBA
Range/Top Speed: 40 miles EV/TBA
Release Date: 2012
General Motors already has an extended-range hybrid electric car with the Chevy Volt. The Cadillac ELR is the company’s take on a luxury extended-range hybrid electric sedan. It boasts the Cadillac design, but doesn’t pack the same oomph the Karma and i8 have.
Price: TBA
Range/Top Speed: 35 miles EV/TBA
Release Date: 2013
The Deadpool
These car companies have since faded or are facing questions about whether the cars will actually move into production since we last covered them.
Modec made battery-powered electric vans and trucks that resemble the delivery vehicles you might see bringing vegetables to your local grocery. Following a decline in sales, Navistar bought the intellectual property rights to the company’s technology.
After selling 360 NEV electric cars at $16,500, the company began buying into capacitor manufacturer EEStor. It has since stopped manufacturing cars and the future of the Zenn NEV is unclear.
Think: City
Porteon: Porteon
Originally unveiled in 2007, Porteon intended to make low-cost electric cars that 
Obvio: 828e
If you think we’re missing a company or you have more up-to-date information, feel free to leave that information in the comments below and we’ll update our list if it merits.