Whereas conventional vehicles burn fuel in an internal combustion engine, battery-powered electric vehicles don't have an engine. Instead, they use energy stored in batteries to power one or more electric motors.
Electric cars have undergone a surge in popularity in recent years, but electric vehicles were already being made in the late 1800s, according to Huei Peng, a mechanical engineer at the University of Michigan who works on the design and control of clean vehicles, including electric cars. The vehicles remained popular until the early 20th century, when they had to compete with mass-produced internal-combustion-engine vehicles.
"After a couple of decades of competition, the internal combustion engine won, mainly because of the limitations of batteries," Peng told Live Science.
Interest in electric vehicles returned during the oil energy crisis of the 1970s and 1980s, but the cars never achieved mass production. Still, electric vehicles have been making a comeback since 2008, with the introduction of fully electric cars such as the Tesla Motors Roadster (and, subsequently, the Model S), and the Nissan Leaf.
Many of today's electric vehicles run on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries — the same kind found in most laptops. These are replacing the cheaper lead-acid batteries used in most older models of electric vehicles. [5 Ways Your Tech Will Go Green in 2015]