Charge Up Your Hybrid!

Apparently the U.S. government likes to talk the talk when it comes to ending our "addiction to oil" but not actually interested in getting us into a 12-step program. Case in point: We've recently learned that the Japanese version of Toyota's Prius is a plug-in hybrid, running primarily on electricity. So efficient is the car that it can get well over 100 mpg!

Even more amazing is the fact that this uber-green auto could be shipped in situ to the U.S., but isn't. Instead the plug-in charging system is removed, the better to continue our ongoing addiction.

Hymotion, a Toronto-based company, has figured out a way to reinstall the Prius' plug-in system, bringing it back to the fuel-sparing beauty it was always meant to be. They employ something they call Battery Range Extender Modules (BREMs) to convert Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) into Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles (PHEV), which seem to be a logical step on the path to full-fledged plug-in electric cars (a road we've already been down, BTW).

While oftentimes we blame industry for so many of the woes in this world of ours, in this case a company is doing its part to make it better. Kudos to Hymotion from sponsible! Now, to convince them to adapt the technology to the Civic...