Robert Krulwich and the Car Talk guys will be on Nightline tonight discussing hybrid cars.

I worked on a Frontline documentary a decade ago on General Motors. Krulwich was the correspondent and he had a very funny segment with the guys from Car Talk looking at some of GM's cars. Back then, we thought they should do a tv show together. Tonight, they are together again at last:

Subject: NIGHTLINE: The Answer to All Our Problems?

Nightline Daily E-Mail
August 25, 2003

TONIGHT'S FOCUS: Gas prices have shot up in the last two weeks. A pipeline accident shut off much of the supply to Phoenix for a while. Oil plays a big part in world politics, and the situation in Iraq and the Middle East. So what if there was a real alternative?

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Let me tell you right off why you want to watch tonight's broadcast. Robert Krulwich and the two guys from Car Talk on NPR dressed up as molecules, complete with color-coded jump suits and balloon-electrons, to explain how hydrogen fuel cell technology works. Lots of people believe that hydrogen fuel cells are the answer to all of our problems. What could be better than using hydrogen as fuel and getting water as the by-product? No more dependence on oil from countries that may not like us. Pollution cut dramatically. President Bush has been pushing fuel cells for all of those reasons. But we still have a long way to go before you start seeing hydrogen sold at your local gas station.

But with gas prices having gone up something like 15 cents a gallon in the last two weeks, this seemed like a good night to look at an alternative. And who better to explain the technology that Robert Krulwich? And that's where the balloons come in. After seeing that, even I understand how these things work now. And tonight's broadcast is just a lot of fun too. There are already gas-electric hybrid cars on the market, although the price is still pretty high. And that's one of the questions we'll ask tonight - would all of us be willing to pay a little more for some of the benefits I raised above?

It's a fun broadcast tonight, and quite honestly a nice change from most of what we have been covering recently. I hope you'll join us.

Leory Sievers and the Nightline Staff
ABCNEWS Washington bureau