[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Thomas Edison told Henry Ford not to worry about electric cars, as they would never be practical. So far, he’s still right.

Diesel electric trains and submarines have been around for fifty years. I reckon that automotive hybrids don't use diesels for aesthetic reasons more than practical ones. A diesel-electric hybrid would get fantastic mileage, but still have the noise and sooty emissions of a diesel.

[B Knotts]

My understanding is that diesel-electric is not used in locomotives for efficiency; it’s simply impractical to develop a direct transmission of that size.