Got a hybrid car? Plug in to this site

There are always a few intrepid folks who aren't satisfied with mass-produced products. These tinkerers look to improve upon or tweak items churned out by assembly lines.

Ryan Fulcher is one of those dudes. A self-confessed "dabbler" who became interested in hybrid car technology when he bought a Honda Insight back in 2000, he's the man behind EAA-PHEV.

Those seven letters stand for "Electric Auto Association/Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle," and they're music to the ears of anyone who's interested in breaking away from the gas pump. Ryan's site is a repository for information related to converting hybrid cars into plug-ins.

Why on earth would you want a car you could charge in a wall socket?

For starters, you might like getting 100 miles plus per gallon of gas. In fact, Ryan's currently getting that sort of MPG in his modified Prius Blue. The oh-so-knowledgeable Mr. Fulcher was kind enough to put on the brakes for a bit and chat with us about electric vehicles, his site, and how it all began...

Hey Ryan, how did EAA-PHEV get started?

I was the Webmaster for SEVA (Seattle EVA) and it came out of the hybrid pages I was writing for the site.

Why did you choose a wiki format for the site?

Well, once I started contributing to Wikipedia (mostly to the various Hybrid and EV pages) I realized how amazingly convenient it was to edit a page. It sure beat back end HTML editing. I also thought it would help to get more community contribution

What's the response been like to the site?

The response is pretty good. Not quite as much community as I had hoped for. We have about 5 regular contributors, but it's mostly me. It gets about 250-500 visits daily.

Find the original interview for this site—and other reviews of the Web's coolest offerings—on Yahoo! Picks.

And here's a profile of Ryan that appeared in The Seattle Times.