> I think a US private company pioneered electric cars. Electric cars have been around since the late 1800s. If you mean modern ones, in the US the California

> I think a US private company pioneered electric cars. Electric cars have been around since the late 1800s. If you mean modern ones, in the US the California Air Resources Board basically willed them back into existence in the 90s, and a California automaker (Tesla pre-Musk) made great strides in their public esteem by putting a battery pack and electric motor into a Lotus chassis and selling it as the "Roadster" (leaning on the prior art of companies like Ford and especially GM's EV1).