Holy Hybrid!

Honda unveiled a clean diesel engine today that it says will be as clean as a gasoline engine. In a story for Red Herring, I wrote that such technology could turn up the heat in what one analyst has called a “holy war” between diesels and hybrids. But a Red Herring reader, Ranjit Mathoda, pointed out that the two technologies aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. "Why not a diesel engine with a hybrid power train?" he wrote in an email. Good point. General Motors told me last year it was testing a diesel-hybrid Sprinter Van, although nobody has announced plans to commercialize diesel-hybrids. As Mr. Mathoda wrote in his blog, diesel-hybrid technology isn't cost-effective right now. Still, the potential is certainly exciting.