High-stakes hybrids: With the pressure on to save fuel and cut emissions, gas-electric models purr i

Every hybrid driver knows The Game: keep a light foot on the gas pedal, a close eye on the dashboard readout that shows moment-by-moment fuel consumption and the interaction of gasoline engine, electric motor/generator and battery power reserve.

The object? To hold the L/100 km figure as low as possible, to use the car's momentum to keep the battery topped off and, where possible, to run on electric power alone.

The rewards are more money in your pocket, less guilt about using oil and creating pollution.

But automakers and their hybrid designers have their own, very serious game: to wring ever more efficiency from their gas-electric powertrains, and to find new, and better yet, unexpected, applications for their constantly increasing knowledge.

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