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The Development of Electric Cars

Electric cars may seem like a recent invention, but they have been around for years. In the early 1900s, there were ______ electric cars on the road than gasoline（汽油）cars, because at that time, gasoline was expensive compared with other fuels（燃料）, electric cars were more popular.

When gasoline ______ dropped and new technologies on gasoline cars were developed, electric cars were out of date. Gasoline cars became more popular ______, because they could go farther without stopping.

During the 20th century, gasoline cars got bigger, heavier and faster. They needed more fuel, and it ______ more air pollution. For years, the car makers didn’t worry about pollution. They didn’t worry about how much gasoline cars used, either. But when people began to ______ that there was not enough oil on the earth, they asked car makers to produce more efficient（高效能的）and less polluting cars.

One ______ of solving the problem was a “hybrid” car（混合动力车）, one that ran partly on gasoline and partly on electricity. Hybrid cars became popular in the 2000s because gasoline prices went up while prices of hybrid cars went ______.

An all-electric car uses no gasoline. The problem, however, is that car batteries（电池）need to be recharged（再充电）. That makes electric cars not so ______ for long journeys. Many people are not pleased with it. The government and car makers are working together to ______ safe, cheap and useful electric cars. When more and more people have these electric cars in the future, a gasoline station may ______.