Everything old is new again... 
Like electric cars. Think that they are a new idea? Think again. In 1907, the Anderson Electric Car Company (later Detroit Electric) began building electric cars. The range was over 80 miles... in 1907. Of course, speeds were low (20mph) but not out of line with contemporaries. And they peaked in the 1910s... during the high gas prices of WWI.
But of course, electric isn't the only "Green" automotive tech. There are also bio-fuels. And for those that aren't up on their green tech, bio-fuels are those that come from plants rather than dead dinosaurs.
The most popular bio-fuel is ethanol. And it is actually less popular now than it has been in the past. In fact, at the dawn of the automotive age, one of the first bright lights to shine over the horizon was actually a flex-fuel capable Model T. In fact, farmers used to use their own corn to make ethanol for their Ts.
Later, the rubber used for fuel lines had trouble holding up to Ethanol. It is only in the last few years that auto makers have begun using fuel lines and other components that would stand up to the alcohol.
The other bio-fuel is bio-diesel. The cool thing about diesel is that Rudolph Diesel actually designed the engine to run on peanut oil. And there are a LOT of advantages to bio-diesel over ethanol. The biggest being the energy yield vs. energy input. Some studies are saying that it actually takes more energy to make ethanol than it puts out.
But no so with bio-diesel. Especially since it can even be made from used cooking oil...
