Fact is most cars do short journeys from point to point - for which electric power is ideal in cities. You only occasionally need them for long runs - unless you use them for business. This technical approach is therefore ideal, especially if the motors are in the wheels - hence you need no (expensive) gearbox. 'Wheel engine' technology is therefore the future. Ironically these things solved there would be two (minor) technical issues left: 1) you can't heat the car from a battery (back to gas cylinders?), and 2) it is so quiet eventually someone will be in an accident - unless there is some form of noise generation to warn pedestrians.

RICHARD GILLESPIE, London, London

Patrick of Manchester - The hybrid will be much greener than it would have been if designed on traditional lines. I ride a bicycle for many of my daily journeys, but when you analyse the extra food I need to eat so that I can do so, and when you look into the power used to grow, harvest and transport that food, my pedal power involves carbon based precursors too. One hundred miles on a bicycle requires that the rider eat an extra 3500 calories. That would be about a kilo of wheat.. The production of a kilo of American wheat has inputs of about 1.5 litres of oil (fertiliser and farm machinery ). Then, we transport it around the world, cook it and pack it, so guessing a bit - lets call it three litres of oil by the time I put the bread into my mouth. If I eat beef instead of bread, we're talking 6 litres of oil for 100 miles on my bike or about 80mpg.

Tony , Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

I've done the math using the US DOT's commuter statistics, and it turns out that a commuter driving a 50 mile range plug-in will achieve 500 MPG if it cannot be recharged at work, and
754 MPG if 1/4th of those can recharge at work, avoiding 96.6 and 97.98 % of liquid fuel requirements. Plug-ins can destroy the crude oil industry.

kent beuchert, Land O Lakes, Florida

How can they market it as an environmentally friendly car when it needs to be pugged into the mains to be powered? This means it will still pollute but with the source being the fossil fuels that power the power station rather than the petrol/diesel that powers vehicles! I have no figures or evidence so this is just speculation BUT i would guess at this method of powering cars actually being worse in terms of pollution and emissions.

Patrick, Manchester, UK