In 1996, electric cars began to appear in California. They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust and ran without gasoline. Ten years later these cars of the future were nearly gone. California regulators passed the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate 1990. This legislation required auto manufacturers to produce a fixed percentage of vehicles that emitted no exhaust. There was a gradual ramping up from 2 percent in 1998, 5 percent in 2001, and 10 percent in 2003. General Motors (GM) produced an electric car known as the EV1 that met this requirement. California was pressured to drop the mandate by the oil industry and executives at GM. California dropped the mandate on April 24, 2003. The oil companies and automakers have an incentive to maintain the status quo because of the potential loss in revenues and profits. Also, there had to be a concern for the dislocation (unemployment) of a large swatch of the labor force. GM is committed to the higher profit margins on SUVs, trucks, and Hummers and not on the narrow margins with the EV1. The average car on the road is less efficient than it was 20 years ago. With the powerful automobile lobby, it's impossible to get fuel economy standards passed through the U.S. Congress. OPEC lowered the price of oil in 1985 and has kept it low and demand strong, and this discourages the development of alternative fuel and energy conserving measures. With the Obama Administration, there has been renewed interest and legislation to make improvements. In 2000, the average fuel economy of new U.S. cars was 29 mpg. By 2014, it was 37 mpg. The CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards were implemented by government regulation (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Environmental Protection Agency) for vehicles manufactured after 2011. By 2025, new cars are expected to improve fuel economy further by getting in excess of 56 mpg. Electric cars are making a resurgence. As of April 2016, there are 450,000 registered electric cars on the road. The best selling as of 2015 was the Nissan Leaf, and it can go 75 miles on a charge. The Chevy Volt, a hybrid, can drive about 53 miles on a full charge. It has a gas powered generator which can recharge the battery while driving and extend the driving range to 420 miles on a full tank. The efficiency of electric cars is 75%. If you include the source of energy to produce the electricity (35% energy efficiency of nuclear and coal; 60% for natural gas), then the total efficiency is in the range of 24% - 42%. A gasoline powered car has an efficiency of about 15%. So electric cars are much more energy efficient than gasoline cars.