Toyota is offering a 10 year, 150,000mile warranty on the batteries, that's how reliable they are. The batteries used in the Toyota rav-4 EV are over 10 years old and have over 100,000 miles on them, I believe south coast edison has a fleet of these Rav-4 EV's and they've put them through a lot of use. Although Toyota isn't permitted to build and use these batteries anymore, they wouldn't use any lesser technology on their current batteries. On top of that, the Prius has one of the most aerodynamic bodies of all the current cars on the market. I believe the EV-1 was the only other car with a lower coefficient of drag, but GM pretty much crushed or disabled all of those. You're just speaking from ignorance; the toyota prius engine is the most thermal efficient engine you can buy off the market as of right now; it's around 30-35% thermally efficient, where as most gasoline engines are only around 20-25%, diesel engines are around 40%, but that's a different story. The electric drivetrain assembly in the prius only exists to help recapture lost energy when you brake (normally the rotational energy is just turned into heat), and is later sent back to the wheels when you accelerate from a stop, or when you need extra acceleration. The Prius has better gas mileage than a civic, the end. Hybrids aren't only purchased because they're fashionable. Everyone picks on the batteries. If you think of it, there aren't many of us who commute over what the range of the 10 year old EV-1's gave us. On top of that, battery technology hasn't been standing still, lead acids and metal hydride batteries are older technologies, lithium ion (and hopefully lithium polymer) batteries are the current cutting edge of battery technology. And no, they don't blow up like they do in laptop batteries when they fault.