A professor from Tennessee is closer than ever to the marketplace for a hybrid kit that will allow everyone to transform their vehicles into hybrids. Professor Charles Perry says that he and his team of university students are developing a kit that will sell for around $3,000 and turn any gas vehicle into a hybrid with the use of a lithium ion battery. A bonus: the professor says it will be easy to install for some car owners.

Prof. Perry’s design takes a lot of the confusion out of hybrid technology, making it more realistic and accessible to car owners. The kit attaches to the rear wheels of just about any car or truck, and is powered by a lithium ion battery in the trunk. Sure, not everyone could install it themselves, but Perry insists that if you can change your brakes, you can install the kit.

Affordable hybrid technology that anyone can use and many can install themselves? This is the American innovation of bygone eras. Now if we can update our antiquated infrastructure, the future will look even brighter for all those hybrids.

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According to SmartPlanet.com, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently called for cities with large numbers of taxis to play a role in cutting emissions. Speaking at a recent C40 conference in Hong Kong, Bloomberg called for the 25 member cities that collectively have oversight of more than a million cabs to consider developing electric taxi fleets. Bloomberg was recently elected chair of the C40 Climate Leadership Group, an association of major cities around the world committed to reducing carbon emissions and slowing climate change.

We’ve seen, I think again and again, how national governments have struggled, both at home and at the international stage, to take climate change actions,” Bloomberg said. “Together, we have to fill the vacuum of leadership ourselves.

According to SmartPlanet, San Francisco is already moving toward electric taxis. Better Place, a California-based electric- vehicle service provider, recently announced a three-year program to establish infrastructure for electric taxis between San Francisco and San Jose.

To collect as many fares as possible, cab drivers prefer to keep their cars moving. So the project entails four battery switch stations, where the EVs would pull into and swap their battery for a fully charged one. According to Better Place, the switch will take less time than a gasoline fill-up.

Last May, a similar project began in Tokyo, home to around 60,000 cabs. Obviously, Better Place would love to land a contract with New York City. But, the cab industry already took Bloomberg to court to fight his older ruling that taxi fleet owners replace their Ford Crown Victorias with hybrids in five years. Last year, a judge ruled in favor of taxi fleet owners and an An appeals Court upheld the decision over the summer.

Undaunted, Bloomberg will continue to push for electric taxis not only in New York, but also in other major cities around the world. His best hope is that major cities will cooperate in bringing the fleets online.

According to Better Place, electric taxis are the gateway to clean cities, because standard taxis are disproportionally responsible for harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Electrification of taxis could make a huge impact on air quality and oil consumption.

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Thinking of buying a hybrid? Confused by the slick advertising claims and uncertain about which vehicle will deliver the goods? Help is on the way with the first consumer-centric hybrid-vehicle website created by the respected Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).The Hybrid Scorecard is an independent rating of 31 hybrid models. See for yourself why UCS discovered that “not all hybrids are created equal.”

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Toyota is recalling millions of cars–justifiably–but can we take a minute to look at some context, here? The Los Angeles Times reports that sudden acceleration in Toyota and Lexus vehicles have been blamed in 19 deaths and 815 crashes since 1999. Yes, it’s alarming to think that one’s Camry might accelerate unexpectedly, or that my Prius might be slow to slow me down because of a brake defect. I understand the worry, and my heart goes out to those who lost family members because of Toyota’s inattention to product safety. So, I’m not saying that Toyota shouldn’t be taken to task for the design, manufacturing and quality control flaws that have engendered this corporate crisis for the company.

But statistics published by Mothers Against Drunk Driving also say that 11,000+ people were killed in 2008 by either their own or someone else’s drunk driving. That’s a really alarming figure. But, gee, I don’t see anyone recalling all the beer cans and liquor bottles that contribute to that statistic. And while Congress is all a-tizzy over Toyota, and although there have been hearings on underage drinking, I’m not aware of any recent Congressional inquiries into the role that alcohol and beer producers and marketers play in the drunk driving massacre that takes place every year in America.

Annual statistics for gun-related deaths are equally alarming. Each year in the U.S., more than 30,000 deaths are attributable to guns. In my book, that’s mass murder. So, does Congress call for a recall of guns or rifles? Of course not. We can’t even get Congress to renew the ban on assault weapons. And these deaths aren’t caused by design flaws–they’re caused by using the product as directed.

Toyota, at least, is attempting to do the right thing, by fixing new cars currently on their sales lots and recalling the affected millions that are already on the road–even if they’re late in doing so. But, in light of the statistics, why are we not equally outraged at the gun manufacturers and marketers? In 2003, I wrote a letter to the editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, urging Missouri voters to reject a concealed-carry gun law. The only response I received was a handwritten, anonymous, threatening letter that was hand-deposited in my mailbox without a stamp or return address. [The concealed-carry initiative failed, but the Missouri legislature and the Missouri Supreme Court found a way around it. ]

Nor does there seem to be any point in “recalling” alcohol. Our culture loves its beer, wine and liquor too much for that. We expect alcohol at social events, wink at binge drinking and joke about drunk driving. Realistically, the only small step that I can envision is a European-like crackdown on drunk driving, in which first offenders lose their licenses and go to jail.

The one hopeful note–and it’s a big one–in my fantasy-recall scenario is cigarettes. Of course, the product itself has not been recalled. But the culture shift in America, which began with the Surgeon General’s Report in 1964,  has been heartening. The lesson from America’s move away from smoking is that, as a culture, we are capable of change. My question is: were we different in the 1960s and 1970s, more willing to listen to knowledgeable health authorities and distinguish between facts and fiction? Did we have more political will back then, to buck the manufacturers and lobbyists, and to act in the best interest of the greater society?

In today’s culture and political environment, I’m fairly certain that recalls of America’s current, favorite death-inducing products probably are not going to happen. I’m simply asking that, as Toyota takes the consumer and media hit, we stand back for just a minute or too and at least contemplate the bigger picture.

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