Not that I think Toyota is a backwards company or anything, but I do think their reluctance to pop in a plug-in charger for their hybrid cars is sort of dumb. I guess they do have the average American consumer pegged though (my mom is absolutely freaked out by hybrid technology even though the warranty is about 3 times longer than that of her dino-juice powered Siena).

So what were geeky granola-greenies supposed to do? Sit idly by while they let Toyota dictate how to get their earth-friendly jones? No way! They busted out their soldering irons and voided their warranties. But what about the average everday non-geek-hippy? How would they make their Prius suck juice from the grid teet?

Enter HyMotion. This Toronto based hippie-factory green-tech company is rectifiying the situation with their own $5000 kit (once it goes out to the public) that drops into your Prius, Escape/Mariner Hybrid for 50 miles emissions free miles per charge! If I had that thing, I'd almost never buy gas (since I only drive like 20-35 miles per day). They're also working on a kit for those with the Toyota V6 Hybrids (400h, Highlander, and Camry hybrids). I bet this still voids your warranty so you may want to wait until after your odometer blazes past 120,000 miles so you won't care so much.

So if you work at a company that gives hybrid rebates (quite a few in this area do...I'm still waiting for Microsoft to do this) and you get the tax break for Uncle Bush there really isn't any reason not to get this thing once it ships. Go forth and get your granola on.

[via Engadget]