TesLa Roadster

Nikola Tesla was a genius who, more than 100 years ago at the dawn of the electric age, invented alternating electrical current, the radio, and the AC motor, among other things, that are instrumental to our modern life. Now, in the 21st century, Tesla Motors is trying to reinvent the automobile, and we spent a day driving the company's first product, the Tesla roadster.

Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid

Mention hybrid, and most people think of fuel misers, such as the 40-to-50-mpg Toyota Prius. But a hybrid pow-ertrain can save fuel in vehicles of any size, as demonstrated by this Chevrolet Tahoe, which represents the first example (along with the GMC Yukon and 2009 Cadillac Escalade) of hybrid technology applied to a large SUV. As such, it gets a big-time fuel-economy bump, but as a 5840-pound vehicle, it isn't—and can't be—a fuel miser by anyone's definition.