Due to the demand of having a vehicle wherein everyone can consume less fuel and will not contribute to the air pollution, the gas/electric vehicle was finally created to meet this end. And due to the rapid advancements in the gasoline power plant, the hybrid powered car has become extremely popular.

A gas/electric car is a means of transportation using two performance sources; it uses a rechargeable energy storage system found on board and a fuelled power source as the auto's driving force. The gas/electric car pollutes less and uses less fuel.

Back in 1899, Ferdinand Porsche have developed and led the way to the very first working hybrid-electric car. Other people followed suit in Ferdinand Porsche's invention. Many people who became interested in the hybrid-car concept have been continually making gas/electric vehicles. However, there was no major vehicle engineer who invested in the hybrid concept and mass produced gas/electric cars until the late twentieth century. The hybrid technology was mainly utilized in developing diesel-electric submarines during that interim period.

The diesel-electric submarines mainly operate very much the same as a gas/electric car. However, the submarines main goal was to conserve oxygen rather than spend less fuel. During the later years, submarines have evolved and have begun using the nuclear power as a substitute for diesel.

During the 1990's, the Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight were the first successful hybrids available in the market. It was two of the pioneers in the hybrid vehicle concept which virtually changed the way the world thinks about autos.

An idealistic inventor, Victor Wouk, manufactured a hybrid electric and gasoline motor automobile that siphoned fuel at half the amount as practically all the other autos being built then. He built the hybrid powered vehicle thirty years before the Toyota Prius got the attention of the U.S. as an energy-anxious nation.

The account about the gas/electric vehicle and its inventor, who died in May, 2005, at age 86, is unfamiliar among even the most avid fans of the growing hybrid powered vehicle association. In terms of hybrid knowledge, it is in fact America that should have led all other countries. Wouk said that the government program that he developed about gas/electric cars was unknown to everyone.

Victor Wouk founded and sold two successful electric industrialized companies in the late 1940s and 50s and in 1962 he was approach by Russell Feldman, one of the founders of Motorola, who recognized the contamination from the automobile as one of the biggest problem of the environment and he wanted to discover the possible solutions with regards to this problem. But his experiment did not work much for the possible solution.

Having an idea, Wouk pondered the problem throughout the 60s and ultimately reached a clever solution. He combined the low-emission benefits of an electric car with the power of a gas power plant to produce a hybrid vehicle. But Wouk did not get any response to his ideas for creating a hybrid powered car; in fact he was heavily criticized for not believing in a full-electric system.

With the help of his colleague, Charlie Rosen, who shared his belief about hybrid vehicles, gave him the chance to prove his ideas of creating the gas/electric vehicle as one of the solution to the rapid health cost of auto-pollution. And now the impressive capabilities of the invention of Wouk, the gas/electric cars, can now be a very great help in terms of less thirsty for gas and less air contamination.

Wouk and Rosen put up a new company particularly to developed their hybrid powered car idea and make it possible to be in the market and be used as an everyday vehicle that belched far less harmful vapors than contemporary automobiles.

The Prius

Ever since the Toyota Prius was released in the market, it has been able to remain as the premier choice of hybrid powered vehicles available. It is true that old hybrid vehicles looks more like an alien auto and cost far more than the conventional auto. However, because of the latest technology installed in newer versions of hybrid vehicles, it looks more like a typical automobile and is far less expensive than its predecessors. It is a fact that gas/electric cars today looks very much like conventional vehicles. However, it will enable you to cut gas consumption in half.

For example, the Honda Civic Hybrid looks very much like its typical version. However, when you look at it closely, the hybrid version of the Civic is able to conserve fuel much better than its fuel counterpart. The Civic Hybrid can get you 50 miles in just one gallon of gasoline.

During the year 2004, Ford has developed and introduced the very first hybrid SUV, which is the Ford Escape Hybrid. A year later, Toyota also introduced their line of hybrid SUV called the Highlander Hybrid.

Because of the growing demand for hybrid powered vehicles, other vehicle manufacturers are now following the footsteps of the other companies who already released a version of their hybrid in the market. For example, Nissan is now planning to develop and introduce a hybrid version of the Nissan Altima.

Nowadays, over 300,000 hybrid vehicles are running on American roads wherein 95 percent of them are Japanese made. The hybrid vehicles are truly very different technology that can both save money and our environment.