Who Says Green Can't Be Mean?

It generates an incredible 1,000 horsepower. Goes zero to 60 mph in a hair-raising 2.5 seconds. Top speed is 208 mph.

Now hold on to your seat for the real news: The Ultimate Aero EV is electric.

Manufacturer Shelby SuperCars aims for it to be the world's fastest electric car upon release by the end of this year. And yes, it was made to prove a point: that green can be mean.

Detroit, are you listening?

Other details, the company claims:

• Range: 150-200 miles on a single charge.
• Charge time: As little as 10 minutes.
• Transmission: 3-speed automatic.

Ultimate Aero EV deliveries will start as early as fourth quarter 2009, the company said in a statement.

The Tesla Roadster, already in production, goes zero to 60 in a not-to-shabby 3.9 seconds. Tesla is the brainchild of Elon Musk, a co-founder of SpaceX, which is developing a new breed of commercial space rockets.

Unlike gas engines, which are comparatively sluggish, electric motors supply 100 percent torque from the get-go, as anyone who ever played with slot cars as a kid can recall.

Tesla's web sit describes the difference this way: "A favorite trick here at Tesla Motors is to invite a passenger along and ask him to turn on the radio. At the precise moment we ask, we accelerate. Our passenger simply can't sit forward enough to reach the dials."

• The Energy Debates: Electric Cars
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Robert Roy Britt is the Editorial Director of Imaginova. In this column, The Water Cooler, he takes a daily look at what people are talking about in the world of science and beyond.