factor on battery replacement -- how do you measure that against gas savings? What are we trying to achieve exactly with a hybrid since it doesn't look like saving money is likely to happen at this stage. I think our best strategy would be to make cars, gadgets, and appliances that lasted much longer. "Every few years" being every 150,000 miles or so. Not a big deal for me as I usually keep my cars for 90,000 miles then get a new one. Still, whoever owns the hybrid at 150k will need a new battery pack, and I'd like to see an environmental impact statement on those packs. I will be looking to replace my car at the end of the year (it's 11years old) which is a VW Polo and I usually get 5.9 L/100 km. I don't live in North America but the pro's and cons are pretty much the same everywhere although gas is $2.05 a litre here, so fuel economy is a bigger factor. I've sporadically looked at the hybrid thing since my ex bought a used Prius 2001 some years ago when she swapped her Toyota Previa (8 seater) for the Prius, her fuel bill dropped from $300+ a month to $110 a month. She didn't need the 8 seats any more. She still has the Prius I'm not sure of the milage on the clock , but the battery pack seems OK and her mpg is unchanged (5L/100km). She had to have the transmission