Parade of hybrids zips through Detroit is the headline from SmartPlanet. They give you a nice rundown of the hybrid and electric vehicles that took over the (very) big Detroit auto show. I’m not much of a car person, but even I can tell you that just about every automaker seems to be fully on board. (I’ve written about some very exciting automotive stories, however, in the past couple of years, notably here, here and here.)
The “NY Times” looked at the show this way: as A Future That Doesn’t Guzzle. They said here that “…the internal-combustion engine seemed almost passé.” But, will consumers buy into the future? My guess is yes because (a) they’re going to seep, however slowly, into the popular imagination and then into acceptance, and (b) the price of gasoline isn’t going down anytime soon.
The DOE’s excellent weekly newsletter on renewables and energy efficiency, “EERE News,” had this article the other day: EIA Sees Gasoline Hitting $3 per Gallon by Summer. That’s still a whole lot less than a good part of the world pays, but it’s enough to keep the American consumer’s attention. Worldwide, scrapping fossil fuel subsidies could be in the offing, so that’ll be another jolt for the hybrids and electrics.
