America's roads could get a whole lot quieter in the not-too-distant future.

Thanks to unprecedented tax incentives included in Obama's $787 billion stimulus package, plug-in electric vehicles are getting closer to the road than you might expect.

Tax credits ranging from $2,500 to $7,500 for buyers of electric cars, the largest of which start in 2010, mean the race is on for automakers to produce moderately priced plug-ins for eager, eco-conscious consumers.

"There is a lot of interest currently with the Obama administration making it very attractive for electric vehicle manufacturers to come into the U.S. to produce vehicles," says Brendan Prebo, a spokesman for Th!nk, a Norway-based maker of electric cars. "And that's very much what we'd like to do."

The automaker just announced plans to build a manufacturing plant and technical center in the U.S. (eight states are currently being considered). The plant will employ 300 workers, the technical center 70, with production starting in 2010.

Th!nk's City car has a range of 112 miles and a top speed of 65 miles per hour--currently sold in Norway and soon to expand to "EV friendly" cities in Europe, it won't come to the U.S. for several years.

The Electric Race

Electric vehicles have faded in and out of public view for more than a century. Inventors in Scotland and the Netherlands developed electric and electromagnetic cars as early as the mid-1800s, and the Detroit Electric automobile won favor in the early 1900s for drivers--mostly ladies--who didn't want the physical stress of hand-cranking a combustion engine.

Major automakers, including Ford Motor, General Motors, Nissan and Toyota, even created generations of electric concept vehicles, but they never caught on. Limited battery technology, the expense of production and a lack of demand kept the cars from mass production.

The current market for electric vehicles is limited to second- or third-vehicle options to augment a family's fleet of cars. The Tesla Roadster, for example, will take your breath away on the open road, but its convertible configuration, two-seater status and high price ($109,000) make it less than practical for families.

And the diminutive ZENN is good for running errands in the city, but its top speed of 25 miles per hour can't quite hack it on a highway road trip. In short, the EV market offers expensive sprinters or pod-like commuters--not much in between.

However, Toyota's Prius PHEV and FT-EV (based on the current Toyota iQ model) are two of the latest models the Japan-based company has put forth as possibilities for production.

The plug-in Prius will commence field tests later this year, with 150 of them to be used in a two-year trial in the U.S. Production-grade units of the model could arrive after that, but the time frame is uncertain, says Bill Reinert, Toyota's national manager of advanced technology vehicles.

A key to success for any plug-in is to manage consumer expectations. Case in point: The current-model hybrid Prius has done so well--Americans bought 158,884 of them last year--that it completely changed the identity of Toyota's brand. Now, the challenge is to maintain that status with plug-ins.

"It's equal measures exciting and frightening," Reinert says. "It's exciting that you see things changing, and it's frightening that they may not change enough or you may have missed something. We're pretty high up on a tightrope here without a big net underneath us. It's a lot of money to spend."

Chevrolet, too, is under pressure for its much-anticipated Volt. The four-door sedan with an electric-only range of 40 miles--and a small gas tank that fuels it further--is due out late 2010. Experts say the car has the potential to enliven the entire brand, which has suffered considerably as General Motors struggles with near-bankruptcy.

BMW's MINI is also on the forefront of electric technology--field tests for 450 of its plug-in MINI E will start later this spring. Pre-approved drivers in California, New Jersey and New York will lease the E, which boasts a top speed of 95 miles per hour.

"This thing drives like a MINI," says Jim McDowell, head of MINI USA. "It is a surprisingly nimble, agile car with a top speed well above what anybody would be driving on a state highway. You really have no limitation in terms of the joy of driving."

Fringe element no more

If history is any indication, economic incentives still might not be enough for traditional automakers to bring EVs mainstream. Nimble start-ups, however, have excelled at getting electric technology to market relatively quickly--and might in the near future as well.

Tesla and the Irvine, Calif.-based Fisker, with its $87,900 Karma, developed their models based on the idea that electric cars should be neither constrained by budget nor reminiscent of a golf cart.

Needless to say, the cars are popular. The signature-edition Karma is completely sold out, and the company is already accepting $5,000 deposits for its Karma S convertible, which won't be available for another year. Prospective Tesla owners must get on a waiting list--and expect to receive their cars a full 12 months after reserving one.

ZENN Motor Company (Zero Emissions, No Noise) and California-based ZAP (Zero Air Pollution) have been around since the early 1990s selling neighborhood electric vehicles and scooters. But the tiny size and low power of cars like the ZENN and three-wheel, $11,700 ZAP Xebra have relegated them mostly to neighborhood use.

But Alex Campbell, for one, sees potential for electric vehicles to break that paradigm. A spokesman for ZAP, he has owned a Xebra since 2006 and says he almost never uses his other vehicle, a gasoline-fueled truck.

"I drove to work in my Xebra this morning, and I'm living the dream," Campbell says. "It's really fun."

It'll be fun for everyone else if EVs actually catch on and those tax credits start rolling in.