In a [good-ish] sign that electric cars are in the near future, there are hucksters who are selling cars reported to be electric but are most undoubtedly ''not'' on Ebay. Here's the auction in question which is over since there were no suckers. But this is a good sign that electric cars are enough on people's radar to attract the goons too.

Why do we think these cars aren't being offered by some ingenious entrepreneur type? For one thing, amongst all the pics shown, there are none showing what's under the hood or in the trunk. Another clue is that the "Lifepro 4" batteries the Toyotas are claimed to be upgraded with sound suspiciously like a bad over-the-phone translation of an actual battery formulation, LiFePo4 (lithium iron phosphate). We were totally convinced, however, by the seller's explanation that the exhaust pipes on the cars were due to the need to "vent the gas generator i use to charge the batteries." Had us totally fooled.