Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles may take 20 years to catch on, but hybrids will bloom until then

The Japan Information Network Business News put a good news, bad news type of story up this weekend. The good news, they claim, is that hybrid engines will be quite standard in automobiles in the next two to three years. The two main reasons for this are, first, that hydrogen fuel cell technology – often seen as the next gold standard for environmentally sound automobiles – is nowhere near ready for the market and, second, that hybrid technology is about to become much cheaper. The price of installing Toyota's hybrid technology into a car will drop by about $2,700US per unit to about $700US, and Toyota is talking about allowing other carmakers to buy this technology for their own models. This will make it much more tempting for more people to insist on the fuel-saving engine, and Consumer Reports and Walter McManus will have to refigure their forecasts. Always in motion, the future is.
[Source: JINBN]