WASHINGTON -- Imagine a fleet of wispy little all-electric cars zipping up and down I-95 between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. When one runs low on juice, the driver simply pulls over and plugs in and -- voila! -- he or she is back on the road.

It sounds fanciful, and it won't happen right away. At least not in South Florida. But elsewhere it is just down the road.

Next year, roughly 1,000 all-electric vehicles will be whispering around Washington state's Puget Sound as part of a federally funded project that eventually may lead to an electronic corridor stretching from Eugene, Ore., to Vancouver, B.C., where you could swipe a card and receive a 15-minute quick charge to speed you on your way.

Washington is one of five states with metro markets selected to participate in the 36-month study, funded by a $100 million grant from the Department of Energy under the economic recovery program.

The first corridor that will be developed runs between Phoenix and Tucson, slightly more than 100 miles. Other corridors could be developed between San Diego and Los Angeles, and Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga in Tennessee.

In Washington state, about 1,000 of the nearly 5,000 Nissan zero-emission electric vehicles, dubbed the LEAF, will be deployed to cities around central Puget Sound. More than 2,000 charging stations will be installed mostly in homes, but also in public and commercial areas.

The idea is to make the rechargers for electric vehicles readily available at places such as coffee shops, post offices, grocery stores and where people work. A regular charge could take four to eight hours, while a rapid charge could take 10 to 15 minutes. Reed said large retailers might provide recharging free to attract customers.

``This is the largest deployment of electric cars and charging stations ever,'' said Colin Reed, a spokesman for the EV, or Electric Vehicle Project, who insists that electric cars are not some green fantasy. ``No one has ever tried a project like this.''

An estimated one million to 1.5 million plug-in electric cars could be on the road within five years.

The problem isn't developing the cars, Reed said. Though Nissan's LEAF is further along than most and will be in full production by 2011, Reed said nearly every major car manufacturer plans an electric vehicle either powered entirely by its batteries or coupled with a small gasoline-powered engine.

Reed said the success of the electric car will depend on how accessible and easy it will be to recharge a car's batteries.

``Will cars drive the market or will infrastructure?'' Reed said. ``We need to figure out how to deploy the infrastructure.''

It's called ``range anxiety.'' It's akin to how empty a gas tank you're willing to drive on before filling up.

One study in Japan found that when the charge in a battery in an electric vehicle dropped to 50 percent, half of the owners would stop driving it because they feared not being able to find a place to plug in. When a fast recharge station was available, the same owners of electric cars felt comfortable to run their batteries down to 15 percent or 20 percent.

The Nissan LEAF, which is expected to cost about the same as a Toyota Prius, will be able to travel about 100 miles before it needs its batteries charged. The five-passenger hatchback uses a lithium-ion battery and can reach speeds up to 90 mph. The cars will be available on a lease-to-own basis through the project and will include a free home recharger. In exchange, the owners of the cars have to provide detailed information on how they use them.

A charge could cost 50 cents to $1.50 at home, but a rapid charge would be more expensive. No decisions have been made on whether utilities or someone else will own and operate the recharge stations. Customers could pay by swiping a credit or other card, or maybe by putting cash in the recharging machine.

In South Florida, the electric car movement enjoys no grand subsidies but it is gaining ground in an organic way.

Miami Beach is hopeful that two electric car chargers will be installed in South Beach by the new year, said Saul Frances, director of parking for the city.

Frances said he Miami-based company Electron Solar Energy has agreed to temporarily donate the charging stations, likely to be placed in upper levels of the city garages on Alton Road at 13th Street and Seventh Street.

Anyone who parks in the garages would be able to use the charging stations, Frances said. He added that Tesla Motors, an electric car dealership, is looking to open a dealership on Miami Beach, or elsewhere in Miami-Dade County.

Miami Herald staff writer David Smiley contributed to this report.

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