Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Plug-in hybrid. What's that?

Just when the U.S. public figured out you don?t have to plug in hybrid cars, here comes the plug-in hybrid! They are just like the ones you see zipping down the road today enjoying double or triple the gas mileage the rest of us suckers get. The main difference with plug-ins is they carry more electric capacity to keep you running on batteries longer. What?s really awesome is the fuel efficiency. It increases to over 100 miles per gallon. Sound too good to be true? Well, believe it, because it?s already happening. There are concept cars being developed by almost every major manufacturer, waiting in the wings.

But, behind the scenes, in garages all over the US, innovative people have been doing what the automakers haven?t. They?ve been retrofitting current hybrids into plug-ins.

If we look at this in light of the big picture, global warming is arguably the defining challenge of our time. And burning fossil fuels is the primary source of the current greenhouse gas problem.

But some would rather you didn?t change a thing. The Competitive Enterprise Institute, funded by Exxon Mobile and other oil companies, just came out with pro-oil ads that end with ?They call CO2 a pollutant, we call it life.? It?s kindof funny really. The ads imply, with gorgeous imagery, that if we stop burning fossil fuels we?ll all be forced to work in the fields, pound corn into flour by hand, in the dark, and all alone because no one could drive there to help. Don?t they realize that what they imply has a good chance of coming true if we DON?T develop other energy sources? There is a way to grind corn without oil and in full light. It?s called a renewable energy grid. Your friends and family can even be there, with the help of plug-in hybrids.

For EcoTalk, I?m Shana Weber.