10 cool electric cars of the future

Why it's green: Runs on battery power.

Why it's cool: Novelty; could be first Chinese car for sale in the U.S.

It's unclear exactly when BYD will start selling cars in the United States. At the Detroit show, the company wouldn't say how many U.S. dealers it has signed up or where. Nevertheless, BYD insists it will be ready by late 2010. BYD's unique advantage is that it's one of the world's biggest manufacturers of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, the kind used for laptop computers and other electronic devices, and for the latest generation of electric cars. BYD claims a range of up to 205 miles on a single charge. That's really good, but the e6 will be relatively slow for U.S. superhighways. On paper, performance is OK for around town.