As oil becomes more scarce and more expensive, the market for fuel efficient cars will undoubtedly grow. The Aptera is a small plug-in hybrid that holds two people and gets upwards of 300 miles per gallon: www.aptera.com. Its sleek aerodynamic design makes it stand out from other hybrids.

Chevrolet has putting effort into a range of electric and hybrid vehicles as well: www.chevrolet.com/electriccar/ — these look a bit more conventional.

It’s important to remember that electric cars are not really the final solution that they are sometimes presented as — electricity still comes predominantly from fossil fuels, and although the overall efficiency of burning fossil fuels in a power plant may be greater than burning them directly in your internal combustion engine, the principle is the same. I am still on the lookout for a comparison that maps out the various energy requirements to transport a vehicle using different power sources.

Mother Jones ran an article that explained the issue rather well was www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/01/king_of_the_hypermilers.html — hypermiling is an interesting concept if you’ve never realized that you can get 60mpg in a plain old Honda Accord. There are a couple other web sites dedicated to this: http://hypermilers.com/ and http://www.hypermiling.com/ along with “how-to” guides.

The basic premise is simple: moving anything requires energy. Moving more mass requires more energy. Overcoming friction (e.g. wind resistance) also requires energy. Rather than merely focus on the efficiency of the engine that does the moving, the hypermilers do not neglect the values of reducing the mass of the car and reducing its friction. This is why you should avoid keeping anything unneeded in your trunk and keep your tires properly inflated. If you don’t, you are “throwing gas away.”