500 mpg Flex-fuel plug-in hybrids?

Hybridcarblog.com

When the oil embargo hit the world in the 70's, it didn't just affect the U.S.. At the time, Brazil imported 80% of its oil from foreign sources.

Today, Brazil has almost wiped out foreign oil dependency using flex-fuel vehicles (more on this).

The U.S., on the other hand, is more foreign-oil dependent than ever.

While hybrid cars provide excellent fuel economy, the technology could do even more. Hybrids, such as the Toyota Prius, have the potential to use electricity to charge their batteries when not in use, which advocates have demonstrated could provide an extra 20 miles of driving per day - without using gasoline.

Thus, instead of 50 - 60 mpg, a plug-in Prius could achieve 70 - 80 mpg, but the potential of hybrids doesn't end there.

According to groups such as the Set America Free coalition, a plug-in hybrid system that utilizes a flex-fuel gasoline engine in its powertrain, rather than a conventional gasoline engine, could achieve 500 mpg if it burned a fuel mixture of 80 percent alcohol and 20 percent gasoline.

That's today's technology.

It is time for American politicians to give up the pork and to start representing average Americans. An energy bill that gives billions to the oil industry is a miscarriage of justice and a slap in the face to the majority of Americans.

Where's the leadership?