Gas electric Hybrid cars have been around since at least 1970. Fuel Cells were used during NASA's Apollo missions during the 1960s. The reason these technologies aren't more prevalent today is simply that there hasn't been significant push to develop the technologies until more recently.
I am mentioning this fact because the other night I was early for my graduate class at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). Since I had a few minutes I was looking at the posters in the hallway. One of them was called "Mechanical Engineering Through the Years." It had a bunch of old photos, one of which was a group of guys and an old car with "WPI Hybrid Electric" on the side. I looked into it a little more and found out the car was for a Clean Car Race back in 1970. The race was organized by several colleges to raise awareness of the significant air pollution coming from automobiles.
It's hard to believe that such an event took place 35 years ago considering the lack of progress made towards cleaner vehicles.
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Environmental activism was a big part of teh counter culture movements of the 60's and 70s. They didn't just start mountian clubs they were also active at technical schools. Charles S. Howe, President of Case, said "the work of conservation is the work of the engineer" durring the T. Roosevelt administration.
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