Electric cars merit new look

The electric car is dead. Long live the electric car.

Who Killed the Electric Car?, a documentary film playing in selected cities, alleges that a conspiracy among Detroit, Big Oil and the government in the 1990s torpedoed promising electric car technology.

At the same time, as USA TODAY's Chris Woodyard reported recently, several small, independent automakers are jolting the electric car market back to life. Generating the most buzz: a roadster from Tesla Motors, a Silicon Valley start-up. It's billed as having a range of 250 miles and being capable of going from zero to 60 mph in four seconds.