I reckon the price in the UK is equivalent of $9.50 per US gallon for diesel, the price in France was, a couple of weeks ago, about 15% lower than in the UK.

Steve you seem to be able to achieve the UK "extra urban" (out of town on a rolling road I think) economy for a Prius. However I am not sure that it is so superior to a lot of European/Japanese cars of the same size using traditional petrol engines. Certainly it might be worth considering the carbon footprint for shipping Lithium right round the world. Which is, correct me if this is incorrect, mined in Canada, partially processed in Europe, converted into battery cells in the Far East then shipped back to America/Europe in Hybrid cars. Presumably the recycling at the end of a cars life will be equally tortuous and may well have an even worse impact on the environment. Similar to the way old computer equipment is recycled on the third world today http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/computer-castoffs-poisoning-the-third-world-672434.html or http://news.zdnet.co.uk/itmanagement/0,1000000308,39233630,00.htm although these reports data back sometime I don't think the situation has improved.