SOME hybrids are environmentally friendly. If we're speaking only of fuel consumption, then the small hybrids like Toyota Prius, Honda Insight, or Honda Civic get better mileage than most other cars on the road. The NiMH batteries used in today's Hybrids may not be the most ecological power storage solution overall, but manufacturers are moving towards Lithium-ion batteries which are recyclable and therefore even more environmentally friendly.

The confusion stems from larger hybrids which use the hybrid technology for performance boosts (acceleration, especially) rather than to improve fuel economy.

No matter how fuel efficient a vehicle is, it will never equal the energy efficiency (per person) of mass transit. All the hybrid vehicles I have seen use their electric motor to start up the car....and this is where their beauty lies!

Where I live, winter mornings are dark and cold - and in January/February, early morning temperatures of -40 degrees (both scales) are not particularly surprising. In these temperatures, most electric motors will simply not bother to start!

So, by flooding the market with cars that rely on electric motors to start at -40 degree temperatures, you will significantly increase mass public transit ridership - and that is the best thing for the environment!

According to a whitepaper [teslamotors.com] from the smarty-pantses at Tesla, Hybrid cars are only marginally more efficient than regular vehicles.

Not every hybrid is created equal.

While it is a good idea to reclaim energy loss due to breaking, not every hybrid out there does this (yet?). The 'plug-in hybrids' in particular can be misleading about their true 'energy cost'. Why? Because every time energy is converted from one form to another, there is considerable energy loss.

We still heavily rely on fossil fuels to generated our electricity (at least, in this part of the world, we do). There is an inherent loss of energy in this conversion. Then, electricity is lost along its distribution route. Once the car is 'plugged in', the energy is again transformed - and thus lost - as it is stored in the car's battery. Only then comes the bit where the stored energy drives the motor....and this is the only portion that is measurable.

This does not seem to be a significant improvement for the environment.... And since we are being told that driving these vehicles is ecofriendly, people will be less likely to curb their diving habits (please excuse the pun).

If 100% of the world drove today's Prius or Hybrid Civic, we'd still be 100% dependent on fossil fuels.