Alongside throbbing supercars, the other stars of this month's Frankfurt motor show were noiseless electric vehicles. Renault unveiled four models to go on sale from 2011, and luxury battery cars swished into view from BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz. Then, on Thursday, General Motors teamed up with India's Reva to produce a battery-powered car for south Asia. Has the electric car's day finally come?

The barriers remain daunting. With batteries costing thousands of dollars and limited to about a 100-mile range, consumer appetite is unclear. Infrastructure for recharging batteries is largely absent; utilities are wary of investing. But ways of lessening these pitfalls are emerging. Batteries are getting lighter and cheaper; Renault-Nissan plans to lease them to customers to reduce upfront car prices. It has linked with Better Place, a US-based start-up that is building networks of charging and battery exchange points in Denmark and Israel. General Motors' Volt represents a new type of “extended-range” battery car that differs from hybrid cars by using a petrol motor to generate additional electricity after 40 miles.

The US, China and Japan, meanwhile, are offering consumers tax breaks to buy battery cars. Citigroup analysts suggest if batteries are subsidised or leased, petrol taxes remain as they are and electricity taxes do not rise significantly, electric cars could be viable. But, they note, losing fuel-tax income could be expensive for governments, so electricity taxes may well rise.