If you are going to use the word obsessed, I would agree with you if it was describing the way I do feel about the misinformation about hybrids, and the Prius in particular.By now most of you will agree that Jef is obsessed with Prius.
Anything he writes now or in the future will reflect that obsession.
I don't share his views and apparently most others in this thread do not either.
Conclusion: Jef's opinion is his own and he is welcome to it. I won't be wasting any further electrons debating with a Prius fanatic. Best of all, I can get much better mileage in any other thread.
As an owner, I get so many people telling me things about my car (here and in shopping mall parking lots) and why they would not buy one based on information that is simply untrue. (like batteries fail and need replacing and cost 9,000, the energy to create the batteries makes a Hummer greener etc etc. - most of these fallacies have cropped up in this thread) This is my issue.
I do wish there were more options in the market than just the Prius - smaller, cheaper hybrids would be awesome, hybrid vans sell very well in Japan but so far they are not available to consumers here. Honda and other hybrid makers just don't have the technology right yet. As soon as I need a new vehicle, I hope that all-electric is available and viable at that time - I don't care who makes it.
I have turned many PC owners into very happy Mac owners by being persistent and presenting facts. Sometimes it is very hard to convince a PC user that they really won't get viruses and that they can open Word documents on a Mac etc etc. But its been worth the effort when they do switch - especially when the calls to rescue them from their PC nightmares stop. It's the same logic and effort I put into correcting the myths that might keep people from considering a hybrid when making a car purchase. In the case of a car, the overall benefits are much greater in terms of reduced emissions and related heath issues.