Madison, Wisconsin, may be better known for the University of Wisconsin campus, the Oscar Mayer headquarters, and the National Unicycling Convention and Championships – but it took four wheels and a hybrid engine to participate in a parade on Sunday, July 24, when the city carved out another small niche in history.
On that date, 208 hybrid cars took to the road with the goal of breaking a previous world record. The Oscar Mayer Weinermobile did not participate.
Called Hybrids on Parade (HOP), the event was the inspiration of a local Toyota dealer at Smart Motors of Madison who hoped to break a previous Guinness World Record for the world’s longest hybrid parade – and succeeded. The former record of 140 hybrids was set in Belgium last year.
Any make or model of production hybrid was welcome to join the HOP, which took about 20 minutes to drive a 2.1 mile loop around Madison – and consumed only four gallons of gas in total. Most of the cars puttered slowly enough to stay on battery power – enabling the organizers to also dub the event “the quietest parade ever.” Fittingly enough, many of the cars in the procession were Toyota Prius hybrids.
A good number of the participants were in town for the Green Drive Expo that weekend, the Midwest’s largest event dedicated to clean transportation solutions.
“The features of hybrid vehicles really lend [themselves] to a parade situation,” said Allen Foster, vice president and general manager at Smart Motors. Foster expected the vehicles to stay in electric mode for all of, or nearly all of the parade; and they did.
“It's well known Madison has a green streak,” said Smart Motors HOP Organizer Paul Cooley. “So it only makes sense that we also hold a world record associated with the technology.
“This will really put Madison on the map and cement our position as environmentally-conscious, green-loving consumers,” Cooley said. To this end, Smart Motors worked with TerraPass, a San Francisco-based organization that “helps everyday people reduce the climate impact of their driving.”
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Cheryl Kaften is an accomplished communicator who has written for consumer and corporate audiences. She has worked extensively for MasterCard (News - Alert) Worldwide, Philip Morris USA (Altria), and KPMG, and has consulted for Estee Lauder and the Philadelphia Inquirer Newspapers. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Jennifer Russell
