Early days yet for hybrid cars

by Meena Lakshana

April 8, 2008

WITH Toyota gearing up to produce hybrid Camrys, the question remains as to whether sandgropers will be interested enough to purchase the cars that run on alternative fuel.

“Yes, I am sure they will,” Phillip Jennings of the Pollution Action Network said. “The question is cost effectiveness.“

“Cars that use lithium batteries are cheap and there are some cheap hybrid car models produced by Japan and the USA that are in the market.”

An environmental scientist at Murdoch University, Professor Jennings said there was still some work to do yet on promoting alternative fuel.

 “It is still early days for alternative fuel,” he said, “because the technology used to produce it needs more development in order to compete with the technology used to produce oil.

“It will be cheaper in a few years."