To meet the mandates, carmakers calibrate how many electrics and plug-in hybrids they must sell, and set prices accordingly. A trickle of e-cars is becoming a stream as the deadline draws near.

The growing availability of electric vehicles piqued the interest of Michael Webb, a lighting architect who lives in Berkeley, Calif. Still, after test-driving a number of EVs, he hasn't found anything that has persuaded him to ditch his boxy Toyota Scion xB.

"Electric cars are the cars of the future," he said. He likes Tesla, but it's out of his price range; the other choices currently on the market "are not acceptable in size or range."

It's unclear what effect president-elect Donald Trump will have on environmental regulations. Lutz predicts big automakers would resist major changes on efficiency standards at this point because of the capital investments already made in meeting them. The regulations are a bit flexible depending on market demand, however, and could get looser still.

For carmakers hoping to profit from electric cars, there are signs of hope.

Battery costs are plummeting, even as power and range increase. Batteries are the most expensive part of an electric car, accounting typically for about a third of the cost.

Those costs, though, have dropped 65 per cent over the past five years and are still headed down, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Partly that's due to greater volume and scale, but advances are being made in battery chemistry too.

More efficiency means more power and, most important, more range. Until recently, most electric cars could travel barely more than 160 kilometres (100 miles) on a single charge. New models such as the Chevy Bolt and the upcoming Tesla Model 3 will travel 325 kilometres (200 miles) or more between charges. That increase could make a big difference in reducing so-called range anxiety.

"It's the 200-miles border which makes electric vehicles acceptable to the majority of car buyers," said Roland Irle, co-founder of consulting firm EV Volumes, based in Sweden.

Before Tesla, automobile executives complained they were being forced to make cars that people didn't want to buy. Dealers, too, were reluctant to sell them because electric cars require less maintenance.

But the Tesla Model S is now the world's bestselling luxury car model, beating out models from Mercedes, BMW, Audi and others and their gas and diesel powertrains. At least 373,000 customers have put down $1,000 deposits on the Model 3.

"I wouldn't underestimate the influence Tesla has had on pushing the other manufacturers along," said Colin McKerracher, head of advanced transportation research for Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Nor would he underestimate China. Now the world's largest motor vehicle market, China is also the world's largest and fastest growing market for electric cars. Government incentives and mandates have created thriving demand as the country's leaders seek to clear the notoriously foul air that hovers over its major cities.

About 134,000 all-electric and plug-in hybrid cars were sold in China in the first half of this year, more than twice as many as in the United States, and at a far faster growth rate.

Automakers from Europe, Japan, the United States and Korea want in to the China market, and also need to be prepared if China manages to export cheap electric cars of sufficient quality.

Meantime, there's talk in some countries of banning combustion engines in new cars altogether, which would give new-fuel vehicles a huge boost.

India, which made news recently as the citizens of Delhi choked on polluted air, is talking about banning new combustion-driven cars within a decade.

So are Norway, Netherlands, Austria and Germany, motivated by concerns over global warming, according to Irle. "Nobody has done it yet, but the proposals are being taken seriously," he said.

And then there's Volkswagen.

The emissions cheating scandal not only will cost the company billions as it deals with a criminal investigation, it also blew up plans at VW and other German automakers to rely heavily on supposedly cleaner diesel engines to help meet clean-air and fuel-efficiency requirements.

As the diesel drama continues, Volkswagen is suddenly a great champion of electrified cars, pledging that a quarter of its sales will consist of electrics and plug-in hybrids by 2025.

"That's the world's biggest carmaker, and 2025 is not very far away for the auto industry," McKerracher said.

Los Angeles Times