plug in hybrid

The Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA), a British automotive design, development and certification consultancy, has done what many TreeHugger readers have been suggesting in the comments of many posts about plug-in hybrid cars: Removable battery packs that can be swapped.

Their test vehicle is a modified Skoda Fabia which they call the H4V (Hybrid 4 wheel drive Vehicle) because the gasoline engine powers the front wheels while two 35kW electric motors power the rear wheels. The regular gasoline version of the car gets 32 mpg (7.24 L/100km) while their 'plugless' plug-in hybrid prototype returned 53 mpg (4.4 L/100km)....