Hi,

Every other day or so I enter "hybrid electric" into news.goggle.com to see what is going on. What I've noticed over time are the a large number of "contract" or "study" announcements:

FedEx Express, Azure Dynamics strike deal to develop hybrid
USCAR VRP Contracts with 'OnTo Technology' to Advance Hybrid ...
InvestorIdeas.com Green Investor Portals -- Consumer Choices in ...
Hybrid Battery Collaboration Announced

Yet in spite of all this "business," very little is actually showing up on the showroom floor beyond Toyota, Honda, Ford, GM and Nissan. Toyota has more models than the others combined. Yet here are all of these 'contract' announcements.

The only announcements I'm interested in are new hybrids at a local dealer that I can test drive. These 'paper' announcements are just smoke, smoke and mirrors.

Bob Wilson

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Automatic, stock, project car.

My other 1500 cc car:

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Bob,

It looks like we have a new buzzword. Anything "hybrid" sounds good. It's like what happened with the word "engineer".

Alternatively, the word "hybrid" is not principally bound to our favourite cars. I remember my dad buying hybrid corn seeds back in the early 1990s. Before cross-breeding was common, "hybrid" was used in the scientific community. According the internet, which is always to be trusted,

In modern English, a hybrid is the offspring of two different species but it derives from
a Latin term with a much more specific usage. In ancient Rome, the word hibrida (or
ibrida) meant "the offspring of a tame sow and a wild boar".
http://www.takeourword.com/TOW200/page2.html

Okay. So I'm going to engineer a hybrid dinner tonight, part spaghetti, part salad, no boar.

Cheers,
Kathie

To confuse the issue more - they are selling hybrid batteries - they don't need recharging for their first use, but can be recharged again and again.

61.5mpg lifetime - 82mpg in recent months

Best Run >
www.cleanmpg.com

"fanatic" is what the lazy call the dedicated

How is that any different from a "rechargeable" battery?

I agree that the word, "hybrid," has a wider usage than just a typical gas-electric car. That is why my search term is "hybrid electric." What bothered me were the large number of Google News hits announcing "business" contracts or deals about hybrid electric vehicles and technology and so little actual news about hybrid electric vehicles. Of course the problem may be my search term.

I probably need a search term that consists of "hybrid electric" but excludes "agreement" or "contract." This may eliminate the smoke and give a list of accomplishments.

Bob Wilson

Operation Iraqi Oil Freedom:

Automatic, stock, project car.

My other 1500 cc car:

Automatic, stock, backup car.
Free speech, dialog and knowledge thrives without the poison of SPAM.

Conventional recharge batteries can't be immediately used off the shelf.

61.5mpg lifetime - 82mpg in recent months

Best Run >
www.cleanmpg.com

"fanatic" is what the lazy call the dedicated

Well, at least some of the hits you got are causing some action. Fedex do have a prototype hybrid delivery truck. Word is they want to convert most of their fleet. There are others as well. It's good for the corporate image.

Pearl is a
2007 Driftwood Pearl Prius
Package "B" (everything but leather, nav, and rear camera)