Electric cars appear to be making their move. Fisker, Tesla and even the Chevy Volt are making their way into the mainstream marketplace which is critical. I’ll tell you the two things that brought this home for me…

(To be clear, Tesla cars are full electric cars; Fisker and Volt are plug-in hybrids – they still rely on a gasoline engines for help….)

I was walking from the metro one day and saw this Chevy Volt plugged into an outlet. I had to take a picture because, this is where we’re headed. And we’ve come a long way from the time when an owner couldn’t plug their electric car into a standard plug for charging.

I remember when buying an electric car meant having your garage outfitted with a special charging station. Now, this lady down the street from me – who has NO garage – has plugged her Volt into an outdoor, standard outlet. And a Volt can be had for about $39,000. I’m not saying everyone can afford that, but, we’re getting closer…

The second instance of “Here we are…”, was when I was walking through downtown and came across a Tesla dealership. Now, if you live in NYC, that’s not so unusual. Full service car dealerships are stuck in the bottom of a skyscraper. I’ve seen this in Paris as well, but, in most major metropolitan areas, you don’t see a car dealership in the middle of downtown. I find this odd.

But, it slightly makes sense for an all electric carmaker because they likely only sell one model and therefore don’t need a huge showroom to display multiple models. But, that’s another sign that we’re getting there – Tesla now sells THREE models; The Roadster, the Model S and the Model X. P.S. Their website is beautiful and informative – www.teslamotors.com

Another sign we’re getting there – prices have come down to semi-affordable. Starting at $49,000 for the S and X. We don’t need to talk about prices for the Roadster unless you’re Warren Buffet rich… 🙂 Tesla has truly made the most progress…

Fisker, on the other hand, is still working on it – A Karma is $87,000 and is also a plug-in hybrid. Fisker is expected to produce the Nina for 2014 at a price of $47,000, but, I’ll believe it when I see it. Traditional car company’s have a habit of projecting future cars that don’t make it to the marketplace – not putting any money on the non-traditional ones…

So if you like the idea of an electric car, hang in there with me… we’re getting there…