What do you suggest the detroit auto makers do to increase the mileage on their trucks and SUV's to 40mpg? Hybrid? Diesel?
Remember that such things are generally in terms of fleet averages, so some vehicles will do better and some worse. There have been some recent breakthroughs in Lithium ion battery technology that are very promising for plugin hybrids. Such vehicles would charge their batteries overnight and would have a range on battery power alone compatible with a typical commute, thus replacing gasoline with electricity. Toyota and Honda are already on track. American car markers may be slowly catching on (Ford Freestyle and maybe a hybrid Saturn this year). But none of them have got a plugin hybrid just yet. Average together practically no gas usage for plugin hybrids with more efficient trucks and the results start to look pretty meaningful.
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unless fuel prices really oo through the roof. But that would cause our economy to collapse pretty much - so not an option to let that happen.
We might all be very unpleasantly surprised in the not too distant future just how little our govenment can do to prevent that from happening. Remember the Arab oil embargo? That's why the "oil addiction" problem is real and urgent.
