Funny, after driving the 2001 Toyota Prius, I thought it was the car of the future. Automakers have been looking for ways to meet increasingly stringent demands for cleaner tailpipe emissions. Hydrogen-fueled fuel cell cars will some day be the ultimate evolution of the automobile, as their exhaust byproduct is essentially water vapor. But the technology for fuel cell cars is still young, and mass-produced fuel cell cars are years away. For today and the near future, the best hope is hybrid vehicles.
Hybrid cars combine a gasoline engine with an electric motor.
Since hybrids are still fueled by gasoline, they don't have to be plugged in or recharged. In the case of the Prius and Insight, the result of hybrid technology is reduced emissions and improved fuel efficiency when compared to a normal gasoline-powered car. The only fear has been that a hybrid vehicle would never be useful as a real car that real people would want to buy. With the Prius, Toyota has largely quieted those fears. Hybrids, we think, are here to stay.