New York State of...Hybrid?

Maybe Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind" is catchier, but... Ah, never mind.

Looks like the folks at New York Times, the very company that owns About.com, have made the jump to alternative fuels—hybrid style. The Times announced that it has been selected to receive a Dodge Sprinter Van plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), the first medium duty plug-in hybrid on the U.S. East Coast.

The van will be garaged at the Times printing plant in Queens and used to deliver New York Times papers to the main office in Manhattan as well as other facilities throughout the New York City area. It’ll even be scheduled to make longer runs to a Times plant in Edison, New Jersey.

The Sprinter, supplied through a partnership between the New York Power Authority, DaimlerChrysler, Electric Power Research Institute and Con Edison, will be used to test and evaluate plug-in hybrid technology in real world driving environments. “The New York Power Authority has a long record of green initiatives to help improve air-quality in the New York City area and we are fully committed to putting emission-free and reduced emission vehicles on the City’s streets,” said Timothy S. Carey, president and CEO, NYPA. And, the vice president production, New York Times, Tom Lombardo exclaims, “We are proud that the New York Times is the first major entity in the state of New York with a plug-in hybrid vehicle in our fleet.”

Well, we agree, Tom, and we’re proud that the company we work for is taking such a progressive step in the right direction.

The New York Times plug-in hybrid Sprinter
photo © DaimlerChrysler