Is this a real electric vehicle or a clown car? It's as real as a prototype can get, put together by Fiat and a few other designers, all of whom must have a substantial sense of humor. The Fiat Phylla is an 80-mph electric car that takes between 3 and 4 hours to charge from a regular wall socket. Adding to its energy efficiency are solar panels on the roof, the reason for naming the car "Phylla," the Greek word for leaf.

We like it. If you're not fond of its green-and-white color scheme, imagine the little electro-buggy in shiny midlife-crisis red. While its 0-30 acceleration in a poky 6 seconds is certainly not exciting, this tiny go-cart might be a foreshadowing of what many vehicles will look like in the next decade. In fact, the trend toward diminutive and bulbous battery buggies has already begun.

Via Ubergizmo