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Wisconsin State Journal Article |
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Hundreds At Hybridfest
The First-ever
Fest To Promote Hybrid Vehicles Stopped Saturday At The
Alliant Center.
Wisconsin State Journal : LOCAL : D1
Sunday, July 23,
2006
RON SEELY
The high-powered executives who run the big oil outfits
probably don't have Bill Kinney's name on the list of
problems facing their companies.
But were they to spend some time getting to know Kinney,
they'd probably be afraid. Very, very afraid.
Kinney is one of their worst customers. More alarming,
he's running around the countryside teaching others how to
be bad customers, too. He was in Madison Saturday, spreading
the gospel of hybrid cars -- vehicles that use a combination
of electric and gasoline power -- at the first-ever
Hybridfest.
The high-tech, high-geek, low-mileage gathering drew
hundreds of people to the parking lot of the Alliant Center,
adjacent to the Dane County Fair, where hundreds of hybrids
were on display, including all 10 of the commercial hybrids
now available from major car makers.
Sponsored by Hybridfest Inc., a nonprofit group of
individuals interested in promoting awareness and
understanding of hybrid vehicles, the event attracted
enthusiasts from 21 states and Canada.
Though the event had its share of tech-types -- many with
keys jangling from their belts or sporting fanny packs --
one of the organizers, Bradlee Fons of Pewaukee, pointed out
that hybrid cars are catching on with a broader clientele,
including families and the elderly.
Hybrids, Fons said, allow anyone to do something about
high oil prices and environmental problems such as climate
change.
"You can blame big government or the big oil companies,"
Fons said. "But, in the end, it's all of us."
Kinney is certainly doing his part. He drove to Madison
from the state of Washington. He came in his cherry red 2005
Honda Insight hybrid, and his goal when he set out was to
average 100 miles per gallon. But he was foiled by the
headwinds of South Dakota and ended up getting a measly 98
mpg.
Still, Kinney made it to Madison on 21 gallons of gas. He
filled his tank once, in Rapid City, S.D.
At Hybridfest, Kinney displayed his Insight in the
parking lot, a miniature fuel pump with a sign that said
"Smashing high fuel prices" lodged beneath a rear tire.
The real secret to better gas mileage, Kinney said, is
better driving habits. It's possible to increase the gas
mileage of any car by simply accelerating and braking more
slowly and smoothly. Driving a hybrid in this way, he added,
dramatically improves gas mileage.
Kinney and others also disabused visitors of some myths
they say have become wrongly attached to hybrids. Jack
O'Keefe, from near Spokane, Wash., said hybrids perform fine
in the winter, and they also accelerate as fast as
traditional vehicles.
Hybrid owners could visit booths selling everything from
more powerful batteries to fancy paint jobs. But A.J. Bisek,
the owner of Dark Side Ridez, offering stylish custom
painting, lamented that the demand for his signature flame
motifs seemed strangely slow among hybrid owners.
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