Creating a hybrid yourself sounds doable, but I won't be attempting it just yet.

I would like to convert my existing car into a hybrid electric/gas vehicle.

One of my friends has assured me possible to convert my car to a hybrid vehicle for one thousand dollars or thereabouts.

Has anyone tried this already, and how did it go for them?

Do you think it is worth giving this car conversion a try? I would sure like to save on gas in the future.

First, let’s look at ways you can obtain better miles per gallon or, for folks in Europe or Australia, use less litres/Km. You use strategies to improve your fuel consumption, and the higher MPG you get then takes care of everything else, like saving petrol or gasoline.

Some petrol-saving tricks can be as simple as car pooling or taking your vehicle in for a lube and a tune-up. Or you may have to re-learn your driving skills so as not to be a “lead foot”. (A person who accelerates too heavily and has to brake hard as well.) Apart from being antisocial and probably illegal, this kind of aggressive stop-start driving wastes fuel.

Other ways to save gas money can be more radical, such as modifying your car’s air intake or carburetor, maybe changing the engine or even exchanging your present car or truck for a hybrid, an electric vehicle or a smaller, more fuel-efficient automobile.

Alternatives to the Motor Car

And for city dwellers with short commuting distances, there are even more alternatives. These include motorcycles, motor scooters and even super-economical mopeds (pedal-assisted bicycles with small built-in motors). These have been popular in Europe and Mediterranean countries for several decades. But that’s an important point… Two-wheeled vehicles are not well-suited to cold weather driving. And wet-weather riding on a bike or scooter is no fun either.

The recent high cost of oil was caused in part by global warming and greenhouse gas emissions (such as carbon monoxide). Therefore, any methods we can come up with to improve your fuel efficiency will also reduce pollution (which is good for the world) and cut your gas bill (which is good for you, personally).

It may also be good for our balance-of-payments figures, and for our struggling national economy.

With fuel prices around the world leaping up and down like the stock markets, anything we can do to burn up less fuel is good for our pocketbook, is good for our country, our children and their childrens’ children.

Think of the environment, as well.

However, we also need to be sure that these fixes and adjustments to our lifestyle does not create new problems we hadn’t thought about. We need to be saving the environment rather than destroying it.

In modern-day Viet Nam, as an example, and many other Asian countries they cope with their traffic problems by having millions of people getting around on small motorcycles and motor scooters.

This gets folks around economically on their many small congested roads, but the two-stroke engines of those little motor-bikes has also created a major pollution problem because 2-stroke engines burn a mix of lubricating oil with their gasoline. They are terribly smoky.

So each of us will have to weigh the pros and cons most carefully before we decide how to improve gas mileage for ourselves.

A Japanese electric car is expected to go on sale in Australia as early as 2010. Its the the Mitsubishi i MiEV, and it will sell for as little as $20,000 USD (approx $30,000 AUD).

The egg-shaped four-seater electric car will go on sale in Japan later this year. But Mr Robert McEniry, president and CEO of Mitsubishi Australia, said  the chances are good that Aussie car dealers will see their first shipment of the i MiEV some time next year.

On February 12, Mitsubishi will import two i MiEV electric cars to Australia. One will go on display at the Melbourne motor show next month, and the other electric vehicle is for potential customers to test drive.

The i MiEV is expected to sell well to corporations and government departments who are trying to reduce their carbon footprint and project a green image to the public.

“I think the public will go for them in big cities like Sydney and Melbourne. They are ideal for city commuting,” said Mr McEniry.

Unlike hybrid vehicles like the Toyota Prius or the hybrid Honda Civic, the little i MiEV has only an electric motor. It runs on electricity 100 per cent of the time. Hybrid cars normally use a gasoline engine plus an electric motor.

The i MiEV electric car doesn’t emit any carbon dioxide itself. However, much of Australia’s electricity is still generated by coal-fired power stations. McEniry says Mitsubishi is looking for green energy suppliers to be part of the project.

The Mitsubishi i MiEV has a 47kW electric motor and can be driven up to 160 kilometres before it needs recharging. The electric car recharges in  around eight hours at an ordinary power point, or in just 20 minutes at a dedicated high-voltage charger.

Mitsubishi examining recharging infrastructure for its electric vehicles and is in talks with two possible suppliers.

But Mitsubishi is not the only car manufacturer planning to  sell electric vehicles in Australia.

Holden plans to sell the Volt car by 2012. It’s a plug-in hybrid electric car that runs mostly on electricity.

Micro car maker Smart plans to sell a two-seater electric car in Australia. Toyota will consider selling the FT-EV here. Nissan iis pondering its EV car, and Mini is looking at its own E car.