Because Chrysler's GEM division is already making a neighborhood EV, because  they've invested in a design that learns from wind-tunnel testing -- and because it's gorgeous -- this is one EV we may actually see more of on the streets.

The old GEM looked stodgy at the Global Electric Motors site, but it was bare-bones cool.

Like all neighborhood electric vehicles, the GEM would have taken a serious hunk out of your day to get far at a speed limited to 25 mph, but for just around town, it would have been fine.

I started seeing more of them around my neighborhood, at the farmers market and even zipping along at what must have been a souped up 40 mph with no sides.

So it's good news that Chrysler taken a new look at its old GEM brand. The division has been renamed GreenEcoMobility and the new car is the peapod (shades of iPod). Indeed you can plug your iPod into the dash.

In both design and size, the Peapod is more like the French Venturi's Eclectic (.mov) than the old GEM. There is something reassuring about that solidity and spaciousness in a zero-emissions EV.

Next, they should pop in the Volt range-extender, to get the kids to the beach and home, and that's how GEM will be reborn as GreenEcoMobility.