The price of gas in America

[Weltall]

The problem with this line of thinking is that the poor and a good portion of the middle-class, our largest economic demos, are likely to replace old cars with used cars. Hybrid cars are pretty awesome (my next one will very likely be hybrid), but there are vast numbers of people for whom those kinds of cars are simply not economically feasible, and they are the ones who suffer from inflated gas prices.

Higher gas prices alone do very little towards forcing people into purchasing more efficient vehicles. Moreover, it's not even really necessary, because over time, most new cars will get to that point anyway. Five and ten years from now, hybrid cars may make up a majority of the mid-range used car market, making them more accessible, and the more accessible they are, the more improved the newer ones will be. Economic principle will drive the trend, as it almost always has. Hybrid vehicles offer a pretty dramatic increase in fuel efficiency over the standard powertrain, but cars in general have always been trending towards the economical since the 1980s, coinciding with a period in which gas prices sharply receded from the historic inflation of the 70s. Legislation and economic tampering were never required, it simply happened because most people realized that the small new Toyota needed about half as much gas as the old Chrysler Nimitz-class battleship they already in the driveway, and they liked the idea even when gas wasn't at a premium.

People also enjoy adopting new technologies. Remember, no laws or price-inflation was necessary to convince people to abandon the horse for the automobile. The innovation itself, if it serves a useful purpose, will invariably be adopted at large once the common man can easily afford it.