Chevy Volt

According to the Popular Mechanics editors, "With the Volt, Chevrolet has tackled an electric-vehicle early adopter's worst nightmare--running out of juice when miles from the nearest charging station--by creating a plug-in series hybrid that automatically switches to a gas engine once the car's 16-kilowatt-hour battery pack becomes depleted."

The Volt runs $41,000, but after a federal subsidy, it comes out to $33,500.