Let ZAP convert your Prius into a plug-in hybrid and get 120mpg

Way too much money for the conversion.

So you can extend your Prius’ range one of two ways:

1) Add batteries that double the price of the car
2) Bring a full 5 gallon gas can with you

Now that's just funny. I thought they were going to say somting along the range of $3000.00. In which I would have thought that over the life of the vehicle you might recoupe your added expense.

But to nearly double the price.

For that much money you could buy two nice italian bikes and enjoy yourself much more than you would in your $50,000+ Prius/Escape...and still be eco friendly.

Also I still don't understand how the Escape can equal the Prius in fuel economy. The physics just dosen't work.

Ahh, the cost of saving the planet is never too much. Feels good doesn't it?

How is this saving the planet batteries destroy the planet!

lol im guessing this voids your 8 year battery warrantyy?

Maybe I'm going blind, but what happens to the gas engine? Is the plug-in in addition to what's already there or is it in place of the gas engine? I've read the press release twice and can't seem to find this info.
("What a drag it is getting old".)

Stories like thse prey on the ignorant -- Those folks who see "120 MPG" and believe what they see (like the 100 MPG carburetor). The deception starts like this: Add an addtional source of enery into the equasion, in this case electricity, which you ignore when you come up with your MPG numbers.

If you want to find out what the real MPG rating is, you must start with *dead* batteries (the ones that provide the drive power to the electric motors).

Another "preying on the ignorant" angle is to ignore the total polution output, which includes the polution created from *ALL* sources to (a) build the vehicle, (b) operate the vehicle, (c) maintain/"renew" the vehicle, and (d) dispose of the vehicle. With respect to plug-in cars, we are ignoring the source of that "free" electricity, and the high polution output for creating the batteries and "renewing" them every few years.

Another example is ethanol, which burns cleaner than gasoline, but when all factors are included (e.g., growing of the plant products, deforrestation, manufacturing of the fuel), the total greenhouse gas output is higher with ethanol than with gasoline alone.

This is not to say that we should not explore alternative fuels and energy sources, but it does illustrate how something that is sold as being a magic bullet, isn't even close. You don't understand the whole story if all you are told, and all you read is the last page of the book.