One of the biggest barriers to widespread adoption of electric vehicles is a phenomenon known as "range anxiety." It's the fear of being stranded in your EV when the battery runs out of juice on an extended trip. If a standard car or hybrid starts to run low on fuel, the next filling station generally isn't too far away, and it only takes a few moments to top off the tank and be on your way again. With an electric vehicle, this scenario plays out very differently; the number of charge stations is far more limited, and it takes hours to get an EV back up to full charge.

Mechanically, electric motors are far simpler than internal combustion engines, with fewer moving parts and fewer fluids to deal with. Also, cars with regenerative braking systems need less brake work than their standard cousins. Without an IC engine or transmission, there's just less to go wrong. Studies have shown that the average cost to operate an electric vehicle in the U.S. is about $485 per year, while the average gas-powered vehicle runs about $1,117.

For now? Pretty slim. If you're willing to wait a bit, however, the selection looks to be picking up, no pun intended. From Tesla's futuristic-looking Cybertruck to the electric version of the massively popular Ford F-150, there are several pickups on the drawing board that look to be coming sometime in the 2021 model year. Rivian, an American startup, plans to release its version of an electric pickup, the Rivian R1T, perhaps as early as the 2020 model year.

One of the advantages gasoline-powered vehicles and hybrid models have over electric cars — for now — is refueling. What takes only minutes at the fuel pump can take hours at a recharging station. There are three industry-standard charging levels when it comes to electric vehicles. Level 1 charging is plugging the car into a standard 120-volt wall outlet, which can take up to a full day to completely charge the vehicle. Level 2 uses a 240-volt outlet, which charges the car five to six times faster than Level 1. Level 3 is a "fast charger," which gives the battery an 80% charge in one hour. Right now, Level 2 is by far the most common.

One of the drawbacks of the hybrid market is that there are not a lot of models to choose from. Most automakers are working on making electric versions of their gasoline-powered automobiles rather than hybrids. This lack of variety forces some drivers who have their hearts set on a hybrid to settle for the one that best suits their needs and style, rather than finding one that fits perfectly into their lives.

The main advantage of operating an electric vehicle is, of course, saying "goodbye" to the gas pump. Your new electric vehicle runs on clean electricity (how that electricity is generated is another matter, but your car doesn't care if the energy comes from renewable sources or coal-fired power plants; electricity is electricity). Since it puts out no emissions, it's better for the environment. Electric vehicles are also cheaper to operate, on average, than hybrid vehicles.

A lot of energy is wasted by cars idling at stoplights and in traffic jams, and when it comes to hybrid vehicles, saving energy is the name of the game. Most hybrids use automatic start/stop systems to limit this type of energy waste. When the car is stopped, the engine is automatically shut off. When the accelerator is pressed, the engine comes back to life and puts the vehicle back into motion. This technology is finding its way into some conventional gas-powered vehicles as well.

Some hybrids can often get up to twice the miles per gallon as their gas-only cousins. Others might not reach quite that level of fuel economy, but a hybrid will get better mileage. The 2020 Toyota Corolla, for instance, is rated at 31 mpg in the city and 40 on the highway; the 2020 Toyota Corolla Hybrid gets 53 mpg in the city and 52 on the highway (the mileage actually goes down for highway driving because regenerative braking isn't used nearly as much to charge the battery).

Drivers are used to measuring their vehicle's efficiency in miles per gallon, something that's difficult to do because there are no "gallons" of electricity. Well, the EPA has helpfully computed that, when it comes to vehicles, 33.7 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity is equivalent to the work done by one gallon of gas. This miles per gallon gasoline-equivalent (MPGe) gives drivers a sense of what it costs to operate an electric vehicle. A 2020 Tesla Model 3 gets about 141 MPGe, a 2019 Chevy Bolt EV gets 119, and so on.

Not all hybrid cars work the same way. There are two different forms of hybridization. Full hybrid vehicles are those that can run on either their electric motor or their internal combustion engine or use a combination of both for optimal efficiency. Mild hybrid vehicles use their electric motor only as a supplement and utilize the internal combustion engine to propel the vehicle. The electric motor in these vehicles is strong enough to use while the car is coasting or braking, and the IC engine restarts quickly when needed. Since the electric motors in mild hybrids are smaller and cheaper, the cars are lighter and less expensive than full hybrid models.

When you hit the brakes, one of the byproducts of the friction caused when the brake pads come into contact with the rotors is heat. For cars with standard braking systems, this energy is wasted as it dissipates into the air. With cars that run on electric motors, this excess kinetic energy can be recaptured by engines and used to recharge the battery. This not only extends the range of the vehicle, but it also extends the life of the braking system because its parts don't wear out as quickly as in conventional braking systems.

The age of the hybrid kicked off in late 1997, when Toyota released the Prius in Japan. First released as a subcompact, the Prius has gone through four generations and is now considered a mid-sized vehicle. The first hybrid vehicle available in the United States, however, was the Honda Insight, which hit American roads in 1999. The Insight was unveiled in November 1999 in Japan and released in the U.S. one month later. The Prius was introduced into the North American market seven months later. Other hybrids, including those developed by American automakers, soon followed.

Electric motors have one clear advantage over their gasoline-powered cousins — acceleration. When it comes to automobiles, torque is the measure of how quickly the motor can accelerate the vehicle. While internal combustion engines have to "ramp" up to provide their full torque potential, electric engines by their nature can reach their peak torque at once. This allows the motor to provide full power to the wheels instantly. For the most part, gas-powered vehicles are still faster (for now), but it's difficult to beat an electric car off the starting line.

It depends on what kind of hybrid vehicle you buy. A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is one, as the name suggests, you plug in to charge the batteries that power the vehicle's electric motor. The Chevy Volt, the Mitsubishi Outlander P-HEV and the Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid are all examples of this type of vehicle. Self-charging hybrids, on the other hand, use regenerative braking and other methods to charge the batteries as the car is driven (these cars are most efficient in city traffic, where the stop-start nature of the trip helps to keep the battery charged). The standard Toyota Prius is probably the most recognizable example of this type of system.

Electric cars and hybrid cars running on their electric motors not only keep the air cleaner but, due to the nature of their engine, don't add noise pollution to their surroundings either. While this seems like a positive thing on the surface, many say this "run silent" style of driving can be hazardous for pedestrians — especially for children and those with vision deficits — as well as cyclists and others who share the road with these vehicles. As a result, some manufacturers are adding sound systems that come on during the speeds of city driving to alert others of their presence.

No one said driving cutting-edge vehicles was going to be easy. Unlike gasoline pump hoses, not all electric vehicle chargers are the same. There are actually four types of plugs used by the majority of the EV on the roads today. The SAE J1772, a five-pin connector, is the most common and is used for most Level 2 charging systems. The Combined Charging System, or CCS, combines the J1772 plug with an additional plug to enable "fast charging." The CHAdeMO connector is a fast-charging connector that is found mainly on Japanese and Korean EVs. Finally, the Tesla Supercharger is a proprietary plug that takes advantage of the company's "Supercharging" technology. Tesla also sells adaptors to use other connections.

Yup! The Qualified Plug-In Electric Drive Motor Vehicle Credit is something that owners of a new vehicle with a plug-in electric drive motor can take. The tax credit is between $2,500 and $7,500, depending on the vehicle in question (it's based on the capacity of the battery used to power the vehicle). There could also be state and local breaks, so contact your accountant after you drive your new hybrid or EV off the dealership lot!

One of the main advantages of a hybrid is that the driver can have a bit of the best of both worlds. They can take advantage of the hybrid's electric side, with its cheaper costs, better fuel efficiency and smaller carbon footprint. Still, when their journey takes them past the range of their electric motor, they can rely on the internal combustion engine under the hood to take charge — an engine that can be refueled at any gas station. This is a sure-fire way to beat "range anxiety."

The sticker price of electric cars is generally higher than their gas-powered equivalents (new technologies are usually more costly because manufacturing isn't producing enough to earn the economy of scale that mature products have). The EVs, however, are cheaper to operate on a day-to-day basis. Studies have found that U.S. drivers pay about 15 cents per mile when using gas-powered cars; electric vehicles cost nearly a third as much to operate because, among other reasons, electricity is cheaper than gas.

The future's not for everyone, it appears. Some drivers are not fans of electric vehicles, and an extreme reaction some take is to park their gas-powered cars in places that will block access to charging points for EVs. This is called "being ICEd" because the charger is blocked by a vehicle with an Internal Combustion Engine. This is illegal in some states, but not all. Given that there currently are so few places to charge an EV, this kind of passive-aggressive hostility is especially hard to take when your battery is running on its last ghost of a charge.

Battery life is a major consideration when buying a vehicle that's electric or a hybrid. Batteries eventually lose their ability to hold a charge over time, and since the battery is the single most expensive part of an electric vehicle, and one of the most expensive on a hybrid, it's something to think about. Some automakers offer generous warranties on their vehicles (The Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Bolt both offer 8-year/100,000-mile warranties on their batteries). Consumer Reports has estimated that the average modern EV battery should last around 200,000 miles.

Most electric car and hybrid car batteries use lithium-ion technology to hold their charge. This technology came of age in 1990 and had the advantage of being able to hold a considerable amount of its charge when not in use. They are also lightweight, which is essential in a vehicle, and charge relatively quickly. One of the nice things about these kinds of batteries is that they are recyclable — also important for drivers worried about their carbon footprint.

Only if you're willing to wait for a pretty long time. There are several drawbacks to powering a vehicle using only solar radiation, chief among them being that it's difficult for solar cells to gather enough power to operate a motor vehicle. Add to this the problem of storing energy in a moving vehicle — battery technology isn't quite there yet — and you'll see the challenges still facing this type of renewable-powered car. Research is ongoing, however, and competitions such as the North American Solar Challenge (NASC) and the World Solar Challenge bring out the best in engineers, so never say never!

While many would give the title of "first hybrid car" to the Toyota Prius, that's not strictly true. While the Prius was the first modern mass-produced hybrid when it was released in 1997 in Japan, the first hybrid car was the Lohner-Porsche Elektromobil. This vehicle was first conceptualized by Viennese coachbuilder Jacob Lohner, who wanted to develop a car that was cleaner and quieter than gasoline-powered automobiles. With the help of a young Ferdinand Porsche, the two developed the Elektromobil. When first shown to the public at the Paris Exposition of 1900, the vehicle was purely electric; an internal combustion engine to keep the battery-operated motor charged was added later, making it a hybrid.

While you don't have to pay much attention to your gasoline-powered car's tank, other than making sure it doesn't run dry, a little heads-up preventative care for your electric vehicle's battery can go a long way. Experts suggest that you shouldn't leave your battery with a 100% charge every time, for instance, because it puts stress on the battery. Also, don't let it discharge completely because that can lower the ultimate amount it can be charged. EVs are best kept out of extreme temperatures, so a garage is the best place to park them. And, while fast charging is convenient, and sometimes necessary, it's best to limit it when possible, because it's hard on the battery. A little thought now can lead to longer battery life down the road!