Phoenix Motorcars Inc. in Ontario, Calif. is targeting another part of the workaday market: light pickups and SUVs that are capable of being used as taxis. Phoenix Motorcars first gained green attention when it showcased a nostalgia-provoking reproduction of a 1937 Ford Cabriolet. But under the hood it was strictly 21st century electric.

Phoenix chairman Daniel Riegert says that a fleet-market penetration of 5 percent to 10 percent would mean production of 12,000 to 24,000 electric vehicles. With a range of over 100 miles per charge and max speed of 95 mph, the light-duty Phoenix vehicles will be ideal for messenger, service and light delivery fleets. "Fleet sales will enable us to ramp up production capacity," says Riegert.

GEM and Phoenix seem to be betting that wider use of electric vehicles will cause a mind shift to power up consumer demand and make large-scale production and lower costs a reality.

Dancing in the street

Billed as a totally new transportation concept, the Tango is a two-person car no wider than a motorcycle in which the passenger sits behind the driver.

Woodbury conducted a thoroughly unscientific survey of area teenagers by showing up at a local high school with his decidedly odd-looking car. When the principal burned rubber driving the Tango, the crowd was wowed. The Tango got a little more buzz when George Clooney bought the first one made.

The Tango's funky head-on silhouette appears to be top heavy and offer little crash protection, but Woodbury claims it's actually safer than most cars and has a much lower center of gravity. Its design is based on a racing-car roll-bar frame and its battery weight serves as ballast. With acceleration of zero to 60 mph in about four seconds and handling that outperforms a Corvette, this is a car that might draw a crowd wherever you pull up -- even if you're not George Clooney.

But the Tango story really concerns improving the way we commute. Since lane splitting is legal in California, as well as in Asia and Europe, the Tango is designed to drive between cars stalled in traffic-clogged freeway lanes. Parking in congested city centers is just as easy as parking a motorcycle -- four Tangos fit into a conventional car parking spot. In expensive parking cities like Los Angeles and New York, the savings might actually cover the leasing cost. The upbeat Woodbury says the Tango is "an investment that will change the world more in terms of pollution than any other investment."