More cool vaporare: I have been intrigued by so much of the hype that the Internet allows. Some guy with some skills in Studio Max 3d designs something in his den and puts a whole website dedicated to this great project that everyone is talking about. A couple of those have been the FreedomShip and The Atlantis Project. Both of these projects started by stating that they were really going to happen, then they just kind of disappeared. Atlantis now says that it was a concept only and that it died off because of lack of interest. FreedomShip still pretends that it is real, although their web site hasn't been updated (including the "news" section) in over two years. Two more exciting projects that just disappeared.

Lately there has been similar buzz in alternative fuel or hybrid electric vehicles. You can't shake a distributor cap around without seeing of some new concept that is "really going to happen". Even GM has created its own buzz with the announcement of the Chevy Volt, which may or may not see production in the next three years. I would trade my Mercedes in a heart beat for one of these, but I am just sitting here waiting to see if it makes production.

The latest to cause me to look hard was posted today on Gizmodo, the XR-3 Hybrid. This cool car (three wheeler) is supposed to get 225 MPG!!! They are posting lots of Studio Max 3d looking models, but no photographs of any actual vehicles. The article at Gizmodo claims that the car is going to become available in two months (read June 1, 2007). If they are just two months away, how come there are no pictures? Venture Vehicles, to their credit, at least has some actual photgraphs of their current working models (which are ugly in comparison). But, they have the tech down and they will be producing vehicles that "Fly the Road" getting 100MPG.

In other great EV news, Toyota says that the 2008 Prius will use the 3rd generation hybrid system and will be using lithium ion batteries. They claim that they will cut the cost of the system in half. Shoot, if they are going to produce a car that has a lithium battery I will be happy at paying the same price. Shoot, I came really close to buying a Prius last week, glad I am going to wait now.

Web Thinking: One of the wisest things that I have heard in a long time was the CEO of a major corporation explaining why he couldn't read his way through an encyclopedia. He would read something and then get distracted. It was a tangent on a tangent. That is the beauty of the Internet.

But, I find that there are some great starting points. There are those bookmarks (or favorites if you prefer) are that I just start with and the next thing you know it is one in the morning and I am rubbing my eyes wondering how I got there. Last night was one of those nights. I am looking at my fuel prices and wondering when the hybrids are coming. I then spent hours at some of my favorite hybrid sites. I applied online as an author of a hybrid site (doubt that will come to fruition) and then worked eBay for a couple of hours. I was chatting with my dad last week and I really think that the guys who tweak hybrids to get the maximum MPG are going to be viewed like the guys who were beefing up their engines in the past to see how fast they can go. Big stinking deal! I have a fast car (faster than probably anyone reading this) and yet the law says that I can only drive it 65MPH. So, what good does that extra 100MHP do me? Nada. But, if I had a car that got 60 MPG and I was tweaking it to get 75MPG wouldn't that be so much cooler than having a car that could go faster than I was allowed?

One of the articles that I read was a group of guys who had used a Prius to get over 110 MPG. I immediately decided that this was the car for me, well until I read the rest of the article. Apparently the Prius is best at 40MPH. So they drive it up to 40MPH and then coast down to about 30 MPH, then slowly accelerate again. This method, known as "pulse" gives the car the greatest efficiency. Cool, but I can hardly envision myself driving across the country this way. But, maybe I will be the next guy to tweak my car so that I can get the best MPG and yet hold a consistent speed, hopefully something around 55MPH!