A electric car is, quite simply, an automobile that is powered by electricity. These cars usually look just like their gasoline-guzzling counterparts, at least on the outside. This is especially true of gasoline-powered cars that are converted into electric cars. However, there is one thing that may serve to make identifying an electric car easier, even before taking a look under the hood. Sound can help in identification, as electric cars has no engine.

Electric cars are something that show up in the news all the time. There are several reasons for the continuing interest in these vehicles:
•	Electric cars create less pollution than gasoline-powered cars, so they are an environmentally friendly alternative to gasoline-powered vehicles (especially in cities).
•	Any news story about hybrid cars usually talks about electric cars as well.
•	Vehicles powered by fuel cells are electric cars, and fuel cells are getting a lot of attention right now in the news.
An electric car is a car powered by an electric motor rather than a gasoline engine. From the outside, you would probably have no idea that a car is electric. In most cases, electric cars are created by converting a gasoline-powered car, and in that case it is impossible to tell. When you drive an electric car, often the only thing that clues you in to its true nature is the fact that it is nearly silent. Under the hood, there are a lot of differences between gasoline and electric cars:
•	The gasoline engine is replaced by an electric motor .
•	The electric motor gets its power from a controller .
•	The controller gets its power from an array of rechargeable batteries .
Inside an Electric Car
The heart of an electric car is the combination of:
•	The electric motor
•	The motor controller
•	The batteries