2014 Chevrolet Volt PREMIUM PACKAGE WITH NAVIGATION $11,990

By now, many people know the difference between a hybrid vehicle and a pure electric vehicle. The former uses both gasoline and battery-sourced electric power for propulsion, while the latter doesn't use gas at all. Unfortunately, the typical electric car has a range of 70-80 miles before it runs out of juice. Here's where plug-in hybrids like the 2014 Chevrolet Volt come in: Plug-ins marry the hybrid and EV concepts and allow pure electric operation for a given distance before switching over to their hybrid mode. And the Volt just so happens to offer considerably more electric-only range than its handful of plug-in hybrid rivals.