Scalability is critical when it comes to making new technology affordable for the average consumer. Take the new two-mode full hybrid system, developed by General Motors and DaimlerChrysler. As both automakers pour money, time, and effort into fuel-cell technologies that are still at least a decade away from production, it is clear to these corporate giants that a mid-term solution to the twin problems of fuel consumption and emissions reduction is necessary, and it’s necessary now.

Not only is a solution necessary now, but also it must be scalable. In other words, the technology must be flexible to enough to work with big vehicles and small, gasoline and diesel internal combustion engines, and in a variety of world markets. Scalable technology becomes affordable technology, and unless the new GM/DC collaboration called the two-mode full hybrid system is affordable, few consumers will accept it or, most importantly, buy it.

First developed for vehicles that consume the most fuel and spew the most pollution into the air such as diesel-powered buses, the two-mode full hybrid system is scalable enough to be used in everything from midsize SUVs to small cars, is compatible with both diesel and gasoline engines, and can be paired with front-, rear- or all-wheel drive.