…two guys in California who are modding the Toyota Prius so that it can run entirely off of battery power for up to ten miles at a time and be plugged into a wall outlet at night, giving owners the option of juicing up the battery so they don’t have to fill up with gas as often as they do now (they claim they’re getting as much as 100 miles per gallon now).
(Via Engadget)

I have often thought about how cool it would be to be able to switch the Prius to battery power at will. I can think of lots of good reasons, like trying to sneak home without anybody hearing your car. Or driving through narrow streets very late at night. To be able to drive a mile on battery power would be very cool – apparently that is standard on Japanese and European Priuses:

They were aroused by a mysterious unmarked button on their Prius and discovered that in Priuses sold in Europe and Japan, the button allows the car to drive for a mile in electric-only mode. – NY Times

Thanks Ole.