Sheesh, I didn't mean to type this much. Read on at your own risk!

I'm not in the predicting business, but here's what I see happening:

Hybrids, with their enthusiastic base, will begin to gain acceptance. But people won't buy them in "greater than 50%" numbers until one or more of the following happen (in no particular order):

1. Gas prices exceed $4 or $5 per gallon for 87 octane, or the price of a fillup exceeds $50 or $60 (whichever comes first).
2. We have gas shortages.
3. We have gas rationing.
4. We have gas lines.
5. We begin to pay extra tax on non-hybrid vehicles.
6. Non-hybrid vehicles become unavailable for personal transportation (due to government-enforced restrictions).
7. We go to war again in another petroleum-producing region or country.
8. Somebody scientifically proves that we have less than 50 years of petroleum oil reserves left. I believe this revelation would affect the oil, energy, and automotive markets even greater than a terrorist attack or a nuclear detonation someplace in the world.

Do I think these things will happen, you may ask? As Eric has already observed, our lovely world is limited, and that means anything on (or inside) is also limited.

Unless we come up with alternatives (and fast, too), I think the chances are very strong for any combination of the above possibilities to happen in the next 20 to 30 years. I think hybrid technology is an excellent technology, but it doesn't really fix the problem. You see, we still have to put gas in our cars.

As long as we pump it out of the ground, it can be argued that we're using it faster than mother Earth makes it. Simple math tells us that eventually, the oil will be gone or otherwise out of reach to us. Therefore, I believe that hybrids are, at best, only a stopgap measure. We must come up with a different way.

Here's another brain-bender for you: At this time, we have no way to acheive sustained flight without petroleum. Have you seen ANY type of aircraft that runs on alternative fuels? I have not. What happens when fuel is too expensive to put in our airplanes?