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When I was a kid, the electric vehicle was "Futureworld."

There were a couple here and there you mostly saw in magazines, or, if you were really lucky, you might've seen one on the road, but mostly they were something to daydream about and draw on construction paper.

But the truth is, electric cars have been with us since the 1880s. They even held land-speed records until 1900 or so.

Click here to take a look at the "Tesla Model S" of its day, the Columbia Electric Victoria, cruising down Pennsylvania Avenue in front of Teddy Roosevelt's White House.

Those must have been some heady days back then, because, when I was young in the 1970s, electric cars really weren't all that impressive except in kids' drawings.

Check out the Sebring-Vanguard Citicar, a really funky-looking boxy wedge that packed 3.5 horsepower under the hood… or wherever the heck they put the battery.

It had a range of around 40 miles, could do the zero to 25 in just over six seconds, and the speedometer topped out at 38 miles per hour.

Believe it or not, this doodad was the top-selling electric vehicle of all time – about 4,500 were made – until Tesla Inc. came out with the Model S in 2012.

Electric vehicles are finally "here." To stay. They have nice, practical, long ranges and can easily do highway speeds (and a whole lot faster, some of them).

These things are taking over the automotive industry. BloombergNEF just reported that electric vehicles will account for 10% of global passenger sales by 2025. That number is expected to jump to 28% in 2030 and 58% in 2040.

And it's not just cars… 67% of city busses, 47% of mopeds and motorcycles, and 24% of light commercial vehicles will be electric by 2040, as well.

If you're into cars, it's really cool to see the electric vehicle trend build momentum.

And, if you're into making piles of cash, it's great news to see that EV makers are becoming diverse and profitable. In other words, you're no longer limited to "just" Tesla.

We've already had a taste of how lucrative this sector can be. I mean, Tesla just reached the highest market cap in the automotive industry – a cool $281 billion.

So, the assumed answer to "How do I profit from this electric car explosion?" is, "Simple: Buy TSLA shares."

And that's a great, long-term play.

But the truth is Tesla's ship has already sailed. The people who were going to make fortunes on TSLA shares have probably already made them. In terms of its real price and price/earnings ratio, it's one of the most expensive stocks on the market right now, trading north of $1,400 per share.

That begs the million-dollar question:

"Well, what company is the next Tesla?"

Here's your answer… Full Story