Scuderi Group Vice President of Marketing and Sales Nick Scuderi recently participated in the SAE's annual Hybrid Symposium in San Diego. Even with the cloud of doom and gloom hovering over the automotive industry, the event was very well attended and discussions mostly centered on engineering solutions and less on fiscal restructuring. It was very apparent that engineers are feeling the pressure to innovate. From all the presentations and lobby chit chat, it's clear that the industry is struggling to get the lithium's battery's energy density up and cost down, as well as increasing the overall life of the battery. This is a major challenge for the market and will be difficult to overcome, which many OEMs around the world have recognized and have since abandoned plans to invest in electric-powered vehicles. Further, many stated that it's difficult for a consumer to purchase a hybrid electric vehicle unless fuel costs are north of $7 per gallon. And with the price of gas lower than last year, sales of electric hybrids have also dropped significantly. Other experts described the automotive industry as one that is under pressure to look at all ways to decrease green house gas emissions, including other ideas to downsize such as turbo charged gasoline engines and other forms of hybrids. The Scuderi Air-Hybrid Engine design was often referenced as one such solution. With its potential historical gains in efficiency as well as the the prospect of emitting up to 80 percent less toxins than any vehicle on the road today, the Scuderi Air-Hybrid will help the OEMs reach their environmental goals quicker - and at a far less expense than other hybrid technologies. Major OEMs continue to see the Scuderi technology as a key solution to the major challenges being faced. As most of the talk at the symposium obviously centered around the Air-Hybrid components, anticipation was definitely evident as many anxiously await the official unveiling of the first prototype of the Scuderi Engine on April 20 in Detroit. It is the base split-cycle Scuderi Engine that will enable the air-hybrid and turbo-charged elements to achieve the most significant efficiency and emission gains.