My new neighbor Tony was talking electric cars.

“How did you get that plug?” he asked me.

I was juicing up my electric Chevy Volt into the 120-volt regular electric outlet on a concrete pillar next to my parking space in our condo complex’s common garage when I heard him ask the question.

“Oh, we had to ask the HOA board and get permission. We paid for the installation and now they are charging us per month for usage,” I summarized.

Tony is thinking about buying an EV. That’s why he wanted to know how I was able to charge my car, which does have a small gas tank that fuels a generator that powers the electric drive train when the battery power drops to zero. We also use the plug to power up my wife’s car, an all-electric Kia Soul EV.

“We take turns plugging in our cars,” I continued. “But you should really push for a 240-volt charger. That way your EV can be charged up in only a few hours.”

Tony wasn’t sure what EV to buy. When I bought my first gas-assist EV four years ago, my choices were limited. Soon, Tony will have a much wider range of models from which to choose, with four to five times the battery range than my Volt, and two to three times the range of the Kia EV.

Currently, there are 13 EV models from which to choose. According to evobsession.com, they are (with range-per-charge in parenthesis):

• BMW i3 (114 miles)

• Chevy Bolt (238 miles)

• Fiat 500e (84 miles)

• Ford Focus Electric (115 miles)

• Hyundai Ioniq (110 miles)

• Kia Soul EV (93 miles)

• Mercedes B250e (84 miles)

• Mitsubishi iMiEV (62 miles)

• Nissan Leaf (107 miles)

• Smart (68 miles)

• Volkswagen e-Golf (83 miles)

• Tesla: Model S (210-315 miles)

• Tesla Model X (237-289 miles)

But more are on the way, making Tony’s choice more difficult.

Tesla recently rolled out its first Model 3, estimated to have a 215-mile range or more. There are 400,000 buyers on the waiting list. If Elon Musk can fill those orders by 2018 or 2019, he could be the Henry Ford of electric vehicles. But mass production has been Tesla’s nail in the tire tread.

Green Car Reports lists six new models coming in less than a year and into 2019. Some are luxury EVs, such as the Audi e-tron (250 miles) and the Jaguar I-Pace (220 miles). Most e-car watchers have their eyes on the 2018 Nissan Leaf, whose older model was the best-selling EV in history. This one should have a range of 200-plus miles. The first look is expected next month.

While Tesla continued to shake-up the electric car market with its roll out of the affordable Model 3 last month, Volvo announced it will only manufacture electric cars or hybrid ones starting in 2019. Is this the beginning of the end of the internal combustion engine?

Tony said he would need the in-garage charger to ensure his EV would be ready to drive to work and back. He did say he can use electric charging stations installed at his workplace.

The conversation hit the nail on the head: Many drivers can’t buy an EV because of the range limitations and <URL destination="http://www.sgvtribune.com/environment-and-nature/20160514/southern-california-edison-plugging-into-electric-vehicle-charging-market">not enough roadside charging stations.

</URL>Even at 200 miles or so, driving up the coast or across country would be out of the question, except for those meticulous, detail-oriented guys who use computer and phone apps to map out every charging station along the route.

And what about families? My wife’s Kia Soul EV seats five, has a hatchback and rides high like an SUV. But again, the range.

Mercedes, BMW, VW and Audi are building electric SUVs. The aforementioned I-Pace is an SUV, with a $50,000 or so price tag. Mercedes EQ is an SUV that runs 310 miles on a single charge and supposedly will sell for around $39,000.

Hyundai reportedly is going to release an EV SUV in 2018 (242 miles). If so, it might be less expensive than some of the others.

The electric car choices are growing exponentially. Soon, instead of the weird looks I get whenever I plug in, I’ll be giving folks who pump smelly, flammable fuel into their cars the evil eye.

Steve Scauzillo covers transportation and the environment for the Southern California News Group. He’s a recipient of the Aldo Leopold Award for Distinguished Editorial Writing from The Wilderness Society. Follow him on Twitter or Instagram @stevscaz or email him at sscauzillo@scng.com.