28 June 2001: The city of Lexington in the US state of Kentucky USA, is to buy 20 hybrid vehicles, with the help of a $100,000 federal grant to pay for the extra cost of about $6,000 more for each over petrol-powered vehicles.
The move is expected to cut the city's fuel costs at least in half and reduce emissions by about one-third.
The city has 638 cars, of which more than 400 are police cars. The cars are driven on average about 1 million miles each month, which works out at about $148,000 each month in petrol costs.
The cars are expected to be a mixture of Honda Insights or Toyota Priuses, the only manufacturers with full production of hybrid cars.
