Finally, a scientific article on hybrid/plug-in cars

[Mac1337]

If you want to learn some hard facts about hybrid cars. Too often we get our facts from politicians and opinion writers. They got excellent benchmarks to compare various alternatives. For example, it says it takes 150Wh to move a Priuse plug-in one Kilometer. We use 1500 KWh a month(example). So with this much energy a plug-in could travel 6000 miles. Not bad.

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/mar09/7928

I hope the article is publicly accessible.

[Black]

Article wrote:
But no company can ever remove cars from the environmental equation. Public impressions are fleeting and malleable, but the laws of physics and chemistry are immutable. Cars require energy to move, and that energy—even if it’s stored in a battery pack rather than in fuel sloshing around in a tank—has to come from somewhere.

Energy is but a small part of the impact cars have on the environment.
A zillion square miles of asphalt, 115 Americans dead =per day= in crashes, all of the horrible effects of sprawl eating up open space at a feverish rate . . .

[Jem]

Black,

We start where we can, and reducing energy use and the impacts thereof is a good place to start, until they perfect that darned flaky transporter technology.

Seriously, a well thought out mass transit overhaul would help things too, but the hybrid car solutions at least hope to make some inroads (so to speak) as those other plans are initiated.