There's a lot you could talk about -- and if this was a car show with a 10-minute spot you'd have the time. A local news story wont give you the time. Comments I'd make:

#1 It's a tool to achieving better gas mileage -- not a guarantee that you will. Learn it and exploit it and you'll get great mileage. Ignore it and abuse it and you wont.

#2 No, you don't plug it in. It recaptures energy - mostly when you brake.

#3 It performs like the V6 Escape, so it does have great acceleration, but it's really about the economy, not the performance.

#4 The batteries don't take away from interior space. ( If you didn't know where they were hidden, you'd never even know they were there. ) You don't replace them, they're good for the life of the car.

#5 It puts out a mere 1/10th the emissions of an average car.

#6 You can learn MORE about it at GreenHybrid.com (Jason will like the shameless plug)

I might ignore #4 - but I had a lot of people tell me they expected the FEH to have less room than a normal Escape and it's just not true. If the station bought their own and plans to drive it a lot then it's probably best to let them use their own car-updates to mention these things (e.g. the Atkinson engine (vs. Otto engine in a normal car), the 330v battery, the eCVT transmission, the warranty, the regenerative brakes, the odd noises it makes, the lightweight rims and EcoPlus low-rollilng-resistence tires, etc.)

BTW - I expect the station will NOT do very well on their own fuel economy depending on who they let drive this thing. Anytime it's driven by someone who doesn't know how to drive it to exploit the economy and...well, you get the picture.

 

Tim, You hit the nail on the head with the reason I contacted the station - too many people not knowing how to use it. I had initially thought of offering them lessons - they've already admitted on air their mileage will vary once they let other drive, but for now it's just the one reporter.

J of