Toyota said Tuesday said it would offer a gasoline-electric hybrid with bigger batteries that could be recharged at any outlet, further stretching the gasoline the car uses. Though production is years away, experimental models built by independent mechanics have already demonstrated 100 mpg results.

"Make no mistake about it, hybrids are the technology of the future, and they will play a starring role in the automotive industry in the 21st century," Jim Press, president of Toyota's North American subsidiary, told the National Press Club.

Even though the addition of bigger trucks and sport-utilities has brought its corporate average fuel economy down from 26 mpg in 1987 to 24 mpg today, according to EPA figures released this week, Toyota is the undisputed leader in hybrid technology. Press said Toyota has "sold more U.S. hybrids so far this year than Cadillac, Buick or Mercedes-Benz has sold cars."

The company's Prius model is the best-selling hybrid model in the U.S., with 73% of the small but rapidly growing market it shares with Honda and Ford. Daimler-Chrysler and GM are experimenting with plug-in hybrids as well. But in this case, all are merely following the lead of dozens of backyard tinkerers.........

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveonaCar/The100mpgCarIsComing.aspx