Okay, so my Prius rocks 50MPG on a daily basis, but I'd still consider a trade. Say... for this car.
Why am I interested in this little white 2 seater? Espicially a little white 2-seater that only exists in (badly rendered) CGI? Because this car is projected to get 330 MPG that's why.
Bring in this car, and forget the oil crisis.
Accelerated Composites is a small company located in Carlsbad, NM. As the name might indicate, they specialize in producing composite materials, and have a new technique that they claim allows them to prodice composites that are both stronger and cheaper.
By pairing this technology with a diesel-electric hybrid, they plan to build a car that:
o Costs less than $20,000
o Has a top speed of 90 MPH
o Gets 330 MPG while cruising at 65 MPH
Of course, this isn't the first company to make such claims and they're still in the "building a prototype" stage, but if you want to get in line, you'll have to stand behind me.
Their extremely low-weight materials, an extremely slippery shape, and high-output supercapacitors combine to produce mileage even the lightest of featherfoots over a Priuschat could only dream about. Usually, the composite pieces alone would be enough to send the price into the stratosphere, but AC claims their techniques will allow them to build this exotic vehicle while keeping the price consumer friendly.
Of course, everything above about mileage should really be seen as "projected," since the prototype has yet to slurp down a pint of Biowilly. There are a lot of possible problems between blueprint and highway.
Still, this is exactly the directions that research in plug-in hybrids has suggested -- larger electric motor supplemented by a small high speed diesel to keep the batteries (or supercapcitors) charged. I'm very excited to see someone moving to make such a car into a reality.