The event finishes Saturday in Boston. Organizers and participants say it's about teaching the public and cultivating high school and college students into a new generation of fuel-efficiency engineers. Honda spokesman Michael Tebo, who surveyed the 50 vehicles on display this year, said the technology is so young even the big carmakers need all the new ideas they can get. We're in transition in terms of what the next big technology is going to be, and these guys are trying all sorts of different things. Among the entries are a two-seat electric car that can reach 90 miles per hour and an assortment of neighborhood vehicles that could be used for short trips through residential areas or to deliver commuters to mass transit points.
Some vehicles still have that space ship look, with a solar sail or an odd aerodynamic shape.
But increasingly, the vehicles look like normal cars. That's important to Rita Dorgan, a local resident who visited the festival when it stopped this week in Pittsfield. Now with this gas problem that seems to be a perennial thing, we're now considering a more efficient vehicle. This year's tour began just after President George W. Bush unveiled his energy plan. Environmentalists have been cool to the overall proposal, complaining it emphasizes increasing energy supplies over conservation.