Word: prius
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Toyota recently introduced its first hybrid car, the Prius, in Japan. It runs on both gasoline combustion and an electric battery, and can attain about double the gas mileage of an ordinary auto. General Motors recently finished its first good electric car, the EV1, although it requires frequent recharging due to its limited range. DaimlerChrysler, taking advantage of research of both its German and American branches, leads the way in developing fuel cell engines--engines which use hydrogen gas as fuel and could produce little more than water as waste. These projects, although showing far more promise than ever before...
...break from the ICE-age as all-electric cars, hybrids offer a compromise. They don't need an extensive public-charger network to overcome a limited range because the batteries are supplemented by a small gasoline engine. Toyota has thrown down the gauntlet by pricing its hybrid, the Prius, at $16,500 in Japan--about a quarter below production cost. The car, which gets 66 m.p.g., could be available in the U.S. within a year. Global warming will force "a slow phase-off of the internal-combustion engine," GM chairman Jack Smith predicted last month. "We see the hybrid...