New York yellow cabs go green

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The ubiquitous New York City yellow cab is going green.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to announce Tuesday that he will order the city's entire taxi fleet be converted to gas-electric hybrids by 2012, sources close to the mayor told CNN.

According to the sources, Bloomberg will instruct Matthew Daus, the commissioner of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, to begin a cycle of replacement that will see 20 percent replaced each year until all of the city's approximately 13,000 taxis are hybrids in 2012.

The commission has approved eight models of hybrids for use on city streets. The vehicles include four SUVs - the Toyota (Charts) Highlander, Lexus RX 400H, Ford (Charts, Fortune 500) Escape and Saturn VUE Green Line - and four four-door sedans - the Toyota Prius, Toyota Camry, Honda (Charts) Accord and Honda Civic.

The average price of gasoline in the United States surged more than 11 cents over the past two weeks to a record high of $3.18 per gallon for self-serve regular, the Lundberg Survey reported Sunday.

The price surpassed the previous record set in March 1981, according to publisher Trilby Lundberg. In today's dollars, the 1981 price of $1.35 would be $3.15, she said.