Electric cars haven’t exactly taken the country by storm (yet), and even with gas hovering around the $4 a gallon mark, sales are sluggish at best. Today, we are miles away from the government’s prediction that there will be 1 million EVs on the road by 2015, although they areoutselling hybrids by nearly a two-to-one margin.

Chevrolet's electric Volt

Part of the challenge with electric vehicles is the cost; an EV costs significantly more than its gas-guzzling counterpart, and many drivers remain unconvinced that the higher up-front price will be offset by fuel savings. We received a little more insight into those costs on Monday when Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally revealed the cost of electric car batteries are even higher than what had been suspected.

A 23-kilowatt battery pack — which is what you’ll find inside Ford’s electric Focus — sells for around $12,000 to $15,000, he said. That means the battery comprises about one-third of the car’s total pricetag, which is presently $39,200. The good news is, Mulally also indicated that the price of batteries have started to fall … so if those prices drop, logic would follow that the overall sticker price will come down as well.

Mulally isn’t alone in this prediction; Tesla‘s Elon Musk recently alluded to the same belief.  Here’s hoping that they’re both right.  The best bet for putting more EVs on the road is to actually make them affordable for the average American — something that we simply haven’t seen yet.

Although I have loved the premise of the electric car since Day One, the prototypes we’ve seen unveiled haven’t exactly been something that gets the pulse racing. With the exception of Tesla’s Roadster, the proposed EVs so far have clearly indicated that we’ll have to leave our love of design at the door if we want to jump on the eco-friendly bandwagon.

Who knew that Dodge would be the one to break the mold?

Last week, Chrysler unveiled one new electric model each for Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep. While Chrysler is getting the Town & Country EV mini-van (yawn), Jeep is adding an electric version of the four-door Wrangler to its fold – which means guilt-free off-roading (as long as you don’t take out any trees while you’re out there.) That’s right – you can leave a smaller footprint but still leave tread marks on the side of the hill.

But it was the prototype EV from Dodge that came as a biggest surprise. Borrowing some design cues from its gorgeous beast of a sports car, the Viper, and throwing in elements of the Lotus Europa, Dodge unveiled one of the most exciting EVs we’ve seen to date.

The two-passenger rear-wheel-drive sports car has the sleek design and high performance we want from a car, but also gives off zero tailpipe emissions.  It actually looks fun to drive - something that’s been noticeably lacking in too many EV designs – and the 200 kW electric motor is the equivalent of 268 horsepower. That gives drivers better performance than we’ve dared to hope for in an EV, reaching 60 mph in less than five seconds and taunting us with a top speed of 120+ mph.

Thanks to its advanced lithium-ion battery technology, the Dodge EV has a continuous driving range of 150-200 miles, and it can be recharged in eight hours from a standard 110-volt household outlet. (Using a 220-volt appliance power outlet will cut charging time in half.)

The possible cloud surrounding this silver lining is that we’ll have to wait for it; the earliest we’ll see this coming off the production line is 2010.

When Dyson came on the scene with its superb line of wind-tunnel vacuums a few years ago, I had to have one. The selling points were just too strong: As the first bagless vacuum on the market, it was also easy to maneuver and completely allergy-friendly. Sold. It’s not as good as having someone clean my house for me, but it makes the task – dare I say it – more enjoyable. (Or at least less dreadful.)

Inventor James Dyson hasn’t just been resting on the millions he’s made as the King of Suction; now the brilliant Brit has a new idea that’s gaining traction. Dyson has announced that, for his next trick, he’ll build an electric car. He plans on creating a lightweight solar-powered motor based on those found in his fabulous vacuums. The battery would get its charge from solar panel on the car’s roof or could also be charged from panels on the garage’s roof.

Rather than try designing the body, Dyson is focusing on the motor and, according to the U.K. Daily Mail, will team up with an automaker such as Honda to build the perfect shell for his electric car. Best of all, Dyson is determined to shake the notion that electric cars are only good for city driving.

“An electric motor can go to very high speeds,” he promises. Given what the man can do with a vacuum cleaner, I’m hoping he can do the same with a car.

Can’t wait to drive down the road with the bumper sticker that reads, “My Other Dyson is a Vacuum Cleaner.”