electric hybrids

Gas is cheap now, but everyone who remembers when it was $4 a gallon knows it won't be affordable forever - especially when world demand exceeds supply. (In 2007, the usually staid International Energy Agency predicted the world supply of oil could peak before the average consumer has ditched their current vehicle.) Meanwhile, the same economic crisis that sent oil futures into a tailspin has made belt-tightening more important than ever.

The MP3 500 hybrid is Piaggio's answer to all that.

The difference between expectations and reality can be brutal. Just ask anyone with a hybrid car. Enticed by impressive mileage estimates, drivers pony up thousands of dollars extra, only to find that their on-road miles per gallon never live up to the sticker's promise. Conventional-car owners, too, have long complained about the discrepancy between the estimate of fuel economy and the reality of gas consumption, but the gap is an especially bitter pill for anyone who has spent a year on a waiting list.