Getting there.

I enjoyed the reader letters about hybrids in the March/April 2006 issue (Advice and Dissent). My 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid gets more than 60 miles per gallon when I drive it smartly. I also save on brakes with regenerative braking, have less frequent oil changes (10,000-mile intervals), and I make less air pollution than typical cars.

The gauges that show trip mileage and instant readings are great for helping me drive better. The CVT transmission is smooth as silk and very efficient. The eight-year warranty on the electric system is perfect. In some clean-car states you get 10-year coverage.

New plug-in hybrid aftermarket options for the Toyota Prius and Ford Escape Hybrid from EDrive and HyMotion are really going to change the future. Biofuel options in hybrids are also great for the environment. The new lithium batteries and ultra capacitors will make these hybrids seem like Model T's.

The future is looking clearer all the time. We're heading toward more and more battery-electric cars, which emit less pollution. Until then, the hybrids are getting us closer each day.

Jim Stack

Chandler, AZ

Thanks so much for allowing your letters section to serve as a forum for debate on alternative fuels and car technologies. Jim Motavalli inadvertently lends weight to my Garage Filling Station concept (see energybulletin. net/7985.html) by stating, "There are no completely clean processes for putting liquid fuel into an automobile."

This may be true in terms of service stations, but with the Garage Filling Station we have an opportunity to control the inputs, as in the case of making our own biodiesel from waste oils.

William L. Seavey, PowerFromSun.com

Cambria, CA