Got $19K for an electric Smart look-a-like? It may not be the genuine article, but Ruff & Tuff Electric Vehicles has put together what appears to be a rather convincing facsimile in the Wheego Whip. And as Autopia reports, the company plans to sell them in earnest as early as mid-2009.

The Wheego Whip can hit 60 mph, but will likely be restricted to the 25 to 35 mph range that neighborhood electric vehicles like the ones ZAP sells, at least until the government crash-tests some Whips and pronounces them safe. Ruff & Tuff Electric Vehicles predicts that the latter will happen sometime in 2010.

To build the Wheego Whip, the company teamed up with a Chinese auto manufacturer; the Whip will be called the E-Noble in other countries aside from the U.S. The car will last 50 miles on a full charge of its AMG dry cell batteries, according to the article.