Clean, quiet, and relatively profitable to produce, electric vehicles have had a rough start in the U.S.: Five years after General Motors (GM) nixed its innovative EV1 electric car program, just a handful of automakers have committed to making and selling electric vehicles on a mass scale any time soon. Enter...

Frankfurt - For years, BMW resisted building hybrid cars, believing that more efficient gasoline or diesel models were a smarter bet. But as the hybrid gives way to the all-electric vehicle—at least in the eyes of optimists—the German automaker aims to be at the front of the pack. BMW is spending...