Danny Westneat | Reality check on plug-in cars | Seattle Times Newspaper

Danny Westneat | Reality check on plug-in cars | Seattle Times Newspaper: "Remember last spring, when Seattle's mayor rolled out the city's first car that could be 'filled at the plug instead of the pump?'

It's called a plug-in hybrid. They are all the green rage — 'possibly the most sought-after technological innovation since Captain Kirk first flipped open his communicator,' says The New York Times.

You may have seen the city's cars around town, painted with an eye-catching claim on the rear bumper: 'This plug-in hybrid gets 100+mpg.'

Also, a greener boast: '150+City MPG!'

Not exactly, it turns out. Not even close.

Try 51 miles per gallon, city and highway combined. Not counting the cost of the electricity.

It's what 14 plug-in Priuses averaged after driving a total of 17,636 miles. The pilot project is one of the few in the nation to subject plug-in hybrid cars to regular motor-pool duty, as opposed to being driven by hypermilers or alt-energy enthusiasts.

'We're not putting these cars on a test track,' said Scott Thomsen, a spokesman for Seattle City Light, which has three of the plug-ins. 'We've got them on hills and wet streets, in the cold and the hot, on short trips and long — all the conditions that real people deal with every day.'

Getting 51 miles per gallon sounds f"