Decorah area residents have been buying hybrid cars for 15 years

(Left to right): Honda Motorwerks President Chris Schneider with Decorah Rotary Club members Jen Gipp and George Hagen

It was 15 years ago that Honda Motorwerks in La Crosse became one of the first car dealerships to sell hybrid vehicles--in this case, the Honda Insight.

Decorah's George and Joanne Hagen placed their order in 1999, then took delivery of their Insight on Valentine's Day of 2000.

On Tuesday, George Hagen and Honda Motorwersk president Chris Schneider spoke to the Decorah Rotary Club about how far hybrid vehicles have come in those 15 years.  Schneider says there are now 36 hybrid car models available, as well as 13 "battery electric" models.

In fact, there's a whole range of different types of vehicles, including not only the Hybrid Electric Vehicle and the Battery Electric Vehicle, but Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles, Compressed Natural Gas Vehicles and Fuel-Cell Electric Vehicles.

Schneider has driven many of the models.  He told members of the Decorah Rotary Club, "We like to say we're leading the change and living the charge."

Many of those vehicles have been sold to Decorah residents.  "There's a great deal of interest in this region," said Schneider, who encourages people to think about steps they can take to reduce energy consumption and to preserve the many natural resources of the Driftless Region.