Energy Glance
AFS Trinity's prototype sport utility vehicles can go 40 miles on a single charge from a standard electric outlet, at which point a gas-powered engine takes over. The SUVs reach top speeds of 90 mph on the highway -- and accelerate without a hitch, as Furia demonstrated while speeding Monday on Westlake Avenue North.
One problem, though: No automaker has agreed yet to license AFS Trinity's technology, so it isn't commercially available.
Still, he said, there is a "lot of institutional resistance" in the U.S.
After all, to choose just one example, he said, an electric car would need little maintenance -- a big moneymaker for car manufacturers.
Never mind that utility firms would become the new oil companies.
He notes that OPEC controls only 40 percent of world oil production, and says the high prices do not reflect market conditions but rather other factors linked to the weakening dollar, market speculation and the U.S. subprime mortgage market turmoil.
