I have to think an electric Jeep, such as the one described, would be a revelation off road in terms of operating costs and range. People could putz around all day for pennies. It's funny, my dad has an '07 Escape Hybrid 4wd (and I've got an '06 CRD). While the Escape may not have much off road credibility, I have to admit it does a decent job of crawling down fairly deep, snowy 2-tracks. And it's in these conditions, where most other 4x4s are getting single-digit mpgs, that we've actually seen the Escape mileage climb. Because under those circumstances, the vehicle is operating almost like a series hybrid: the wheels are driven almost entirely by the electric motor, while the engine just cycles on occasionally to charge the battery. Now, the added resistance of the snow is countered by the lack of wind resistance, but I don't know what that balance is. Never tried driving it 10mph down paved roads for miles because that would be boring as hell.
Just my experience.
I really would like to see them put all these and more into production, though, provided that they are affordable. (FYI, part of the big Bailout Bill that went through is a $7500 tax credit for plug-in hybrids, so we're all paying for them anyway!)
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