Bush energy plan attempts to spur sale of hybrid vehicles

Hybrids run on a combination of gasoline and electric batteries and get about 49 miles a gallon in city driving, according to Consumer Reports

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush's long-range national energy plan includes $4 billion in tax incentives aimed at increasing sales of gasoline-saving vehicles, such as hybrids.

Hybrids run on a combination of gasoline and electric batteries and get about 49 miles a gallon in city driving, according to Consumer Reports.

"The best I've gotten is 56 miles per gallon and the lowest is about 36 miles per gallon," says Geoff Forman, a Washington-area driver who owns a five-seat Toyota Prius hybrid.

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"It's quiet," Forman says. "You can be sitting in the carpool lane at my daughter's school and the engine will be off. Nothing is coming out of the tailpipe."

The Prius -- which comes with automatic transmission -- is quiet because when the car stops moving everything shuts down automatically. Hybrids will switch from gasoline power to electric power when the driver eases on the accelerator, and back to gasoline when more speed is required.

"The computer is always choosing the best way to maximize the mileage," Forman says. "Even under the worst situation, it's polluting 90 percent less than a comparable same-year car."

Unlike conventional vehicles, a hybrid gets better mileage in stop-and-go traffic with its electric motor, than on the highway when its gasoline engine is needed.

But what about refueling? "I think people think 'electric' and they think, 'Plug it in to fuel it,'" Forman says. "No, that's not how this car works. You go to any gas station, you put regular gas in it, and if you're like me you go every two weeks."

Unlike conventional vehicles, hybrids get better mileage in stop-and-go traffic with its electric motor, than on the highway when its gasoline engine is needed

Toyota is not the only carmaker to offer hybrids. Honda currently sells a manual transmission, two-passenger vehicle called the Insight.

Hybrids cost about $20,000, a few thousand more than comparable autos. Detroit's Big Three automakers -- Ford, General Motors and Daimler-Chrysler -- are developing their own hybrid models. Chrysler is expected to release a hybrid Dodge Durango sport utility vehicle, and Ford plans to introduce its hybrid, to be called the Escape.

But experts say hybrids are only an intermediate step toward a future when all vehicles are gasoline-free. They predict that fuel cells ultimately will replace gasoline-fueled autos in 10 to 20 years.

CNN Correspondent Ann Kellan contributed to this report.