They are seen as an alternative to those powered by fossil fuels in terms of lower emissions which can only be good for the global environment as well as for the quality of the air in our towns and cities on a more local scale.
Of course there is a debate about the Green and Eco credentials of an electric vehicle as inevitably the production process and composition, specifically the elements in the batteries themselves have a potentially damaging carbon footprint notwithstanding the depleting effect on natural resources such as nickel, lithium and zinc.
You get the impression that electric is the future where motoring is concerned but in fact the Halcyon Era of electric propulsion vehicles took place in the last few years of the 19th century.
Simultaneously in 1897 in London and New York although with no apparent collusion or collaboration between the respective parties hire-taxi services started up using pioneering electric power.
The English version of which 12 entered into that initial service was the invention of Walter C Bersey. They were the first self propelled vehicles for hire in the Capital.
Bersey was understandably a great advocate for electric power or as he called it the natural power which was "one the most intimate and effective of all of the assets of Mankind".
What he referred to as "Electric Artisans"were in effect just horseless Mulliner Coachwork bodies harnessed to a 40 cell battery running a three and a half horse power motor of a Lundell generator or alternator type.
A main catalyst to the development of such vehicles was the repeal of the Law in 1896 which had required a person with a red flag to walk in front of any powered means of transport which was obviously a major restriction and inconvenience.
New Regulations under the overseeing eye of Scotland Yard applied to what was anticipated to be the rapid increase in vehicles of unrestricted speed included the stipulation of a Driver, that the vehicle was able to be brought to a stop on demand, had a small turning circle and could get up the steepest slope in London, Savoy Hill.
The Bersey Cabs were by no means nimble and manouevrable.
The taxi cab body work when fully fitted out to the standard expected for traditional horse drawn carriages weighed a hefty few tons and although a range of 30 miles was achievable on a single charge and with a upper speed of between 9 and 12 miles per hour they were very expensive to run on a commercial basis.
There was no premium fare to be charged for the new cabs with the same tariff applying as for the main horse drawn contingent in London. As with a Hansom Cab there were just two passenger places. The electrical illumination of the interior and exterior of the Bersey Cabs was not at all popular with complaints from hirers about feeling very much in the limelight. Those Victorians did so like a bit of secretive and subversive existence when travelling in pairs.
Under propulsion the cabs must have sounded like the modern electric milk floats of today as they became known as Hummingbirds and sported a distinctive black and yellow livery.
Soon some inherent disadvantages of the miraculous natural power source became obvious.
The batteries were bulky and when requiring recharging had to be lifted out using a hydraulic system that took around 3 minutes. Add to this that there was only a single charging station in London and smooth and effortless operation could never be attained. The cost of the electricity was exorbitant and even following the move to generating their own power this still proved to be uneconomic.
A cab, manufactured in Coventry by Bersey's Company and later with a larger model by The Gloucester Railway Waggon Company also had a very short period of operation as the level of noise and vibration caused the machines to fall apart with common symptoms being excessive wear to tyres and vibration damage to the bodywork that included delicate glass plates.
Under a basic Cost Benefit Analysis or as per that era a few calculations on the back of a cigarette packet the amount of breakdowns and wear and tear drove many initial enthusiastic operators back to horse drawn cabs.
The New York experiment of 1897 was a little more enduring and successful in terms of numbers of vehicles.
There were 100 electric cabs on the streets by 1899 and this increased to around 1000 vehicles by 1905. Consequences of the increase in the volume were two infamous milestones being the first speeding charge and an unfortunate fatality.
However, a fire at a Taxi Depot in 1907 destroyed nearly a third of the fleet of vehicles and with the economic panic that engulfed the United States in the same year all confidence in the new fangled invention evaporated and there was a regression to horse drawn cabs.
Shortly after the importing of gasoline powered cars from France for taxi use sounded the death knell for electric power. So began the dominance of the internal combustion engine in motorised transport.
It has taken more than a century to put electric power for vehicles back on the agenda. The technology is certainly better for it.
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