The Chevrolet Volt just got a sticker price of $41,000, and no one can understand why they should pay that much for what is essentially a Chevrolet Cruze for all practical purposes. There are plenty of cool projects announced and concepts demonstrated, but all they can talk about these days is how manufacturers will sell enough to make it worthwhile. Will green cars ever rule the world? Here’s a reason to believe they will. People think of green cars, and all they can think of is maybe the Tesla Roadster or the Nissan Leaf. It doesn’t look like much is happening in terms of development in our future plans. Could not be farther from the truth. Let’s take a look at a bunch of green cars that don’t get all the press they should, just to show how alive and well the whole green automotive movement is.

The Honda FCX Clarity is for rent in California. It’s a hydrogen fuel cell car that looks like any normal Honda. But really, it’s quite a space age. They’re testing it now, but pretty soon we could all have water coming out of our tailpipes.

Everyone loves the Mini Cooper; Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair claims it was his first car, and pretty much every cool Brit takes pride in mentioning this fun little ride. California is very lucky when it comes to a great green car concept. In Los Angeles, for rent, a lot of lucky locals drive this beefy thing and it has great acceleration going from zero to 62 mph in under 10 seconds, and everyone swears it has that great Mini Cooper handling.

Next on our list of great green cars you’ve never heard of is a great little product from China’s Noble Auto. It’s called Wheego Whip. This electric plug will squeeze out 50 miles on a single eight-hour charge with two people inside. It costs less than $20,000 and is already here for sale.

Electric cars have to have weird names. It makes them look like they are descended from aliens, and makes their appeal stronger. Case in point: the Mitsubishi i MiEV. This is also an electrical plug and has been on sale in Asia for about a year. It’s not coming to the US until 2011. It should be worth it though, because it’s incredibly cute and incredibly roomy, and it has a huge windshield that extends so far back it looks like half a glass roof.

So there you have it: there’s more to green cars than the pair they keep writing about in major magazines over and over again. Just to think that the roads of this country could be full of these futuristic cars in maybe 10 years.