With gas prices rising and people looking to live more environmentally friendly, alternate energy cars are becoming a part of everyday life.

Hybrid and electric cars are the best way to easily save money and at the same time improve the environment. As reported by Paul Eng of ABCnews.com, a hybrid car is a car that is powered half by gas and half by electricity. The engine uses gas only when needed, usually for higher speeds; this is why hybrids are so efficient. An electric car is what its name implies; its engine gets its power solely from batteries. Depending on how much battery power the car has or how long it lasts, electric cars can be just as or even more efficient than hybrids.

Hybrid and electric cars have been around for a few years now so scientists and engineers are looking to improve them in any way they can. The goal for car makers is to make a car that not only saves the driver  money by using an alternative fuel, but also keeps that same amount of power that one would have with a fully gas-powered car.

Tesla Motors, an innovative car company founded by engineers in California, set out in 2003 to achieve that goal. Five years later, they came out with the Tesla Roadster, which proved that fun and power in a car does not have to be compromised by poor fuel mileage. Since then, its cars are all around the world, 37 countries to be exact. The company looks to keep making revolutionary cars that are powered by one thing, and one thing only: electricity.

When it comes to hybrid and electric cars, they are cheaper to maintain, and they are helpful to the environment, but they are not attractive to everyone. There is still no electric or hybrid car that has the perfect balance of power, performance, and efficiency. Although Tesla did come very close, it is not for the average consumer, since the cheapest car starts at over $60,000, and the most expensive of the line goes into six figures.