Reply #2: Author Chang-Ran Kim is very confused [View All]

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"Unlike earlier gasoline-electric hybrids, which run on a parallel system twinning battery power and a combustion engine, plug-in cars are designed to enable short trips powered entirely by the electric motor, using a battery that can be charged through an electric socket at home."

This car is not at all unlike "earlier gasoline-electric hybrids". The only difference is that the batteries can be recharged by plugging them into a wall socket. It too runs on a parallel system...hence "hybrid".

"engineers say battery technology is still insufficient to store enough energy for long-distance travel"

That's why it's a hybrid. He apparently believes the car can only go 8 miles.

Fox must have helped him with the "some say" part, because the engineers who designed the EV1 had no problem making a car that went 170 miles -- on the very same NiMH-technology batteries this Prius uses, and without any help from an ICE.