San Francisco taxi driver Paul Gillespie anticipates a recurring question when he picks up fares in his Ford Escape Hybrid taxi: How's the fuel economy? Gillespie is happy to report he's saving approximately $30 per 12-hour shift or more than $6,000 a year.

"Customers are always surprised when I slow down for a light and the gas engine shuts off," said Gillespie, who drove the first Escape Hybrid taxi. "The electric engine is so quiet they think the cab has stalled out, so I try to explain hybrid technology to them." Hybrids are perfect for cabdrivers or anyone who does stop-and-go city driving, he added.

Ford is launching a nationwide tour to promote the use of its environmentally friendly, gas-electric SUVs in taxi fleets. Starting today in Chicago, Ford’s Hybrid Taxi National Tour will visit eight U.S. cities.

At Chicago's Museum for Science and Industry, Ford will present the city with a one-year loan of an Escape Hybrid taxi for evaluation.

Chicago recently passed an ordinance adding hybrids to the city's taxi fleet by June 2007. The mandate is part of Mayor Richard M. Daley's initiative to make Chicago the "greenest" city in America.

Its fuel economy in stop-and-go city driving also is 80 percent higher than a conventional Escape. The two-wheel-drive version of the hybrid SUV achieves 36 miles per gallon in city driving and up to 500 miles or more on a single tank of gas -- even in gridlock traffic jams.