Hybrid Could Be Wave of Future

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published February 7, 2007 at 11:37 AM PST

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

The spike in gas prices to more than $3 a gallon last year sparked interest in hybrid vehicles. But, as KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce tells us, some newer hybrid cars aren't available to the public.

The spike in gas prices to more than $3 a gallon last year sparked interest in hybrid vehicles. But, as KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce tells us, some newer hybrid cars aren't available to the public.

President Bush has set a goal of reducing gasoline use in the United States by 20 percent over the next ten years. Bush called for more plug-in hybrid vehicles. Plug-in's are electric cars with large batteries and small gas engines. Frank Falcone is a graduate student in San Diego State University's mechanical engineering department. He's part of a team that designed an alternative-fuel car. Falcone says we could see more plug-in's on U.S. highways in the near future.

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Falcone: Plug-in hybrid could become a mainstay, a staple of our vehicles.

Falcone says whether plug-in's will be available to buy depends on the auto industry. Major automakers are working on plug-in hybrids. Federal officials say yearly fuel costs for hybrids are about $700 less than conventional cars. Hybrids also generate less pollution. Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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