Andy

I realize the Accord isn't Honda's first hybrid, but it's going to be probably the first mainstream hybrid car they sell. The Insight's obviously it's own animal and probably sold more cars as gadgets and to eco nuts than to people seriously concerned about fuel milage (the $20k pricetag just makes it hard to justify). The Civic hybrid is a good step forward but the Accord is one of the best selling cars in America and a pretty bold statement of how confident Honda is in it's technology.

I think Toyota did release the Prius slightly before Honda's Insight but they're actually 2 radically different systems. The Toyota system moves with only the gas engine, only the electric engine or both at the same time and uses a bunch of computers to make it seem all the same to you. Honda's IMA system you are always moving under gas power, they just have an eletric motor in place of the starter that can help move the car and also start and stop the engine. It's much simplier and therefore cheaper so I think you'll see a lot more of it (I'm pretty sure the Ford Escape hybrid uses either Honda's IMA system or one very similiar of their own design).

With modern emissions controls, cars put out so little actual harmful emissions that's it's almost a moot point in that regard. I see us relying on fossil fuel for a long time in the future though. Even when fuel cell cars hit the market, in order to generate the hydrogen they use for fuel take a tremendous amount of energy that's generated from fuel. There will eventually be a major breakthrough in solar or battery technology that revolutionizes everything, I just hope I can still tinker with the new cars to make them faster.