Real Fuel Efficiency

I had to take a break from my vacation to post this story from Wired:

"Politicians and automakers say a car that can both reduce greenhouse gases and free America from its reliance on foreign oil is years or even decades away. Ron Gremban says such a car is parked in his garage.

"It looks like a typical Toyota Prius hybrid, but in the trunk sits an 80-miles-per-gallon secret - a stack of 18 brick-sized batteries that boosts the car's high mileage with an extra electrical charge so it can burn even less fuel.

"Gremban, an electrical engineer and committed environmentalist, spent several months and $3,000 tinkering with his car.

"Like all hybrids, his Prius increases fuel efficiency by harnessing small amounts of electricity generated during braking and coasting. The extra batteries let him store extra power by plugging the car into a wall outlet at his home in a San Francisco suburb - all for about a quarter."

Some of these experimental modified hybrid plug-ins have gooten up to 250 miles per gallon. Talk about efficient. That is outrageous.

This story should outrage everyone who is paying nearly 3 bucks for a gallon of gas. Our lawmakers obviously do not care enough about the American consumer to give innovation a realistic shot. They are too busy giving huge taxbreaks to mammoth oil companies.

I guess it is up to the innovation of the American citizen to begin weening us off big oil's teet. Thank goodness for the Ron Gremban's of the world.