If you’ve ever been in a traffic jam in L.A., you’ll appreciate the idea of the almost comical-looking Tango electric car zipping between the cars in the part-time parking lot often referred to as “The 405″.  Which reminds me of a question no-one’s ever answered to my satisfaction: why do Californians have the weird habit of referring to their freeways with the definite article? In any case, as odd as the Tango looks, it apparently does 0-60MPH in 4 seconds, and can give a Tesla a run for its money on the quarter-mile. All of which doesn’t matter much if you need to cart the kids to soccer games and pick up lumber at Home Depot, but that is clearly not the intention of the car’s producers. It’s designed as a commuter vehicle, and besides the cute lane-splitting trick (legal in some states, not all) it will park nose-in to the curb, and fit in most motorcycle spaces. Worried about safety? It has a full steel roll cage that meets SCCA/NHRA rules; in theory you (or at least the roll cage!) should be able to survive a 200mph crash. With its current $100K+ price tag, only George Clooney can afford one, but they plan a price-drop in 2009. For a Tango-eye view of a traffic jam, here’s another YouTube clip (no sound).