DAVIS, Calif. -- Some researchers in the Sacramento region are at the forefront of plug-in hybrid technology and are hoping to cash in on the $300 million prize proposed by Sen. John McCain.

Dr. Andrew Frank has studied the idea of substituting electricity for oil for 30 years, and said the key for developers like him is to get the technology in the hands of the consumers, Sacramento television .

"An idea is not worth anything unless the public can buy it," said Frank, who works out of the University of California-Davis. "The only way the public can buy this type of vehicle is to see it in high volume production."

With gas hovering around $5 a gallon in California, McCain offered energy incentives for the development of a battery package that has the size, capacity, cost and power to make plug-in hybrids or electric cars commercially accessible to consumers during a speech in Fresno on Monday.

Tom Kelley of Davis Electric Cars is looking for the development of the product McCain was speaking of.

"We have been here a year and they (electric cars) are still around the corner," Kelley said. "They have got to be cars that we can put on the lot that people can come in and drive and drive off."

Some customers at Davis Electric Cars said that with the current spike in gas prices, the appeal of buying an electric or hybrid vehicle is at an all-time high.

"We live in Sacramento and are looking for something that we can just run through town in and not have to pay $5 a gallon to pay gas on," customer Evan Reed said.