How 'bout getting that electric-petrol Axcess car out of the museum and onto Australian roads?

There's a long history of coulda, shoulda, but didn'ta vehicles littering the path to our current state of affairs in the green car world. Pretty much everyone now knows about GM's EV1, but I'm sure you've all got your personal favorites and who knows what we'll think about the Zap-X or the Naro in ten years.

One such vehicle that had a lot of potential is the 2000-era, Australia-built electric-petrol hybrid Axcess Low Emission Vehicle. As Australia's The Age points out, the Axcess is just about the same size of the Toyota Corolla, Australia's most popular car and it generated a lot of interest at motor shows in Asia and Europe back in the day. Unfortunately for those down under, "the Federal Government decided there would not be much interest in the US and stopped further funding."

While the Axcess now sits in the basement of a Museum Victoria warehouse, there's talk about reviving the concept for Australian automakers to use as a starting point for new hybrid. The government is still opposed, and The Age has more details on how the vehicles inventor feels about the car, then and now.

And check out that name; even the unnecessary "x" was ahead of its time.

[Source: The Age]