Christian Science Monitor 3/13/09: Electric cars charge ahead. Wayland engineer Armin Kusig has converted his Honda Insight into a plug-in, and gets close to 100 miles per gallon out of his car. He’s out ahead of the manufacturers, who promise to be catching up. A combination of unpredictable gasoline prices, prodding activists, unsold SUVs, and hefty government financial incentives for plug-ins have changed the game. After years of foot dragging, major car companies are at last accelerating into a market for electric-powered vehicles of all kinds. At least nine car companies worldwide say that by 2013 they will offer plug-in vehicles that use electric motors as their primary means of propulsion, and some will be all-electric drive vehicles.