HIGH GAS PRICES ARE THE MOTHER OF INVENTION

While you’re bitching about high gas prices, people much smarter than you are building the next generation of fuel efficient vehicles, plug-in hybrids with the potential to drive 200 to 250 miles on a single gallon of gas. Car companies are not making them yet, but a growing group of individuals are taking cars like the Toyota Prius and filling the trunk with a few dozen extra batteries to conserve as much energy as possible during the gas-guzzling portions of any drive. At night the car is plugged into the wall to power up the batteries, which helps the car get insane amounts of mileage. “The value of plug-in hybrids is they can dramatically reduce gasoline usage for the first few miles every day,” said an electrical engineer whose car gets around 80 mpg. “The average for people’s usage of a car is somewhere around 30 to 40 miles per day. During that kind of driving, the plug-in hybrid can make a dramatic difference.” (CNN)