No carpool lane for California hybrid car owners?

The AP is reporting that California hybrid car drivers might not be able to use the car pool lane, even though the state recently approved such legislation.

The legislation, scheduled to start in January, gave hybrid owners the right to start using California's Diamond Lanes with only a single occupant.

Because the Federal government has not yet approved a waiver for California's legislation, the state is contemplating delaying the measure. Should California proceed without the waiver, the state could lose future Federal highway funding.

Some thought the Federal waiver was automatic; however, Virginia ran into the same problem earlier this year, but chose to allow hybrids without Federal approval.

"I didn't anticipate the political opposition potentially of the automobile manufacturers," said Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, author of the bill which received enthusiastic support from Schwarzenegger.

Some claim Federal government action won't be taken for at least 6 months.

So, don't take your Toyota Prius into the carpool lane without a passenger if you live in California.

The State Patrol, according to reports, will ticket you.

Join our Hybrid Car Club to stay informed.

Hybrid vehicles less powerful?

When the Toyota Prius first hit the market, it was a great car for passionate environmentalists and those worried about foreign-oil dependency, but it was a performance dud for most.

Then hybrid cars came of age.

The current generation of the Prius added innovation, a sleek design, and converted the car into a real seller that offers acceptable power.

Not long after, the Ford Escape hybrid followed. Built on hybrid technology leased from Toyota, the power was acceptable.

Then a new twist to the hybrid genre was added when the Honda Accord Hybrid hit showrooms earlier this month. The Accord Hybrid is simply the best Accord. Not only is the hybrid Accord more efficient than the conventional Accord, it's faster and more powerful.

Now, Toyota's next entrant into the hybrid marketplace keeps the power coming.

In Spring 2005, the Lexus RX 400h hybrid will launch. Powered by Toyota's signature, Hybrid Synergy Drive system, which will combine the same V6 3.3 liter engine in the RX330 with an electric motor, this new hybrid system will produce 270 horsepower, compared to 230 for the RX 330.

Hybrids are not just better for the environment, or for ending foreign-oil dependency. They are now also faster and more powerful versions of their conventional cousins.

More hybrid vehicles.

Hybrid version of the Mariner

At the New York auto show, Bill Ford announced the release of Ford's second hybrid.

In 2006, Ford announced, the Mariner hybrid would be available for sale.

The Mariner, built on the Escape platform, will be Ford's second hybrid vehicle, both of which are SUVs. Of course, they are almost the same vehicle.

I'm more concerned with numbers.

Toyota plans to sell 100,000 hybrids in the United States next year. Based upon current demand, they could easily sell more.

If Ford wants to be an environmental leader, then produce a couple of 100,000 hybrids. Try diesel hybrids, hydrogen hybrids, gas hybrids.

Once American auto executives said hybrids would never work in America because of their lack of performance. Now hybrid cars, such as the Honda Accord hybrid and the soon-to-be-released Lexus RX 400h Hybrid, are faster and more powerful than their conventional counterparts.

Even the superficial U.S. automarket is questioning more and more the environmental damage and military conflicts caused by gasoline and oil dependency.

Environmental leadership should be the highest corporate mandate at this point in time because customers are starting, and will continue, to demand that their products be environmentally friendly.

The sooner Ford acknowledges this point and takes action, the better the chances that the "Blue Oval" can lead the world in automotive innovation once again.

Despite Hybrid Escape, Ford Hammered by Environmentalists

"Ford's marketing talks about the greening of the Blue Oval," he said. "It's highly disingenuous if not outright false. Ford's advertising is outrageously misleading because it paints the company as an environmental leader when, in fact, it's exactly the opposite." (From DetroitNews)

Ford continues to receive the lion's share of criticism from environmentalists, or at least American environmentalists, because it's the most identifiable American automotive brand.

While none of the world's largest automakers deserve significant kudos for their environmental efforts, Ford has not only slyly reneged on publicly made pollution mandates, but continues to be a pollution leader.

Just a few months ago, Ford brought "the world's first hybrid SUV to market".

Big deal. How many did they bring to market, .000001%? I don't think 20,000 Ford Escape hybrids is even 1% of Ford SUV sales.

Moreover, only extreme environmentalists with money can afford one.

The Toyota Prius base sticker price is $19,000. Granted you won't be able to buy one for that price anytime soon due to demand, but at least the technology is within reach of a large majority of Americans.

Still, Toyota only thinks 10% of the U.S. market will purchase hybrid vehicles in 2015, according to recent statements by Toyota executives. So, Toyota isn't exactly planning to flood the market with hybrids either.

Honda is about the only company that has really been an environmental leader, or least Honda is as close to an environmental leader as possible for an automaker.

Still, even with the release of the Accord hybrid, Honda's third hybrid car, the company is only planning to produce twice as many hybrids as Ford in 2005.

So, yes it might be unfair to attack Ford for the massive pollution problems created by the entire auto industry, but it is entirely unfair for Ford not to do something to protect not just America's environment, but America's people.

Over the last several decades, Ford reaped massive profits and benefits while emitting massive pollutants into our skies. While profits might be down today, mostly caused by gross corporate mismanagement, Ford has a responsibility - with the preponderance of evidence of pollution and global warming - to take environmental action.

Making public statements, then reneging on them, while marketing yourself as an environmental leader when facts prove the opposite, isn't just misleading, it's as conning as the worst car salesperson.

The Ford Escape hybrid is a nice gesture by Ford, but only a gesture.

Accord Hybrid one of LA's Ten Great Cars of Year

Los Angeles is possibly the world's most materialistic city, especially when it comes to automobiles. That's why when I saw the article, The Class of 2004 Ten of the great cars of the year and the types of L.A. owners they might attract, by Dan Neil, I certainly didn't expect to see a hybrid vehicle.

Yet, of the 10, one was the Honda Accord Hybrid and another was a Mini-Cooper, most of the rest were extreme gas-guzzlers.

Still, I was happy that a story about cars and Los Angeles, written by a Los Angeles Auto writer, would include a hybrid, but the article went further than that. Mr. Neil opens his article mentioning America's relationship to the internal combustion engine, and that this year provided evidence that something better than the internal combustion engine was clearly possible.

More important, he noted $3.00 gas in California and said, "American foreign policy is bloodily fixated on a region of the world whose single strategic value is oil."

It's not just because of the cost of gasoline that people purchase vehicles such as the Toyota Prius, or Ford Escape Hybrid, it's because of the costs of our dependency upon foreign oil, in addition to the environmental costs.

For decades Americans have died in the Middle East protecting foreign-oil dependency, like some maddened, craving drug addict.

But if California can say, No More, what an impact on the rest of the Nation.

Further, Neil brings up global warming, Bush's acknowledgement of global warming, as well as California's fight for clean air. "But automakers, suing to stop California's new carbon-emission standards, are in greenhouse denial." Then he asks, "Whose air is it, anyway?"

"The future belongs to automakers who embrace change. Toyota surpassed Ford as the world's No. 2 automaker in 2004 and will likely overtake GM in 2005, when it will sell more than 100,000 hybrid cars in the U.S.".

As in denial as America has been about oil, especially foreign oil and its costs, dramatic world events are forcing Americans to wake up to this issue.

American auto corporations better do the same.

What's up with the hybrid haters?

Yesterday, the Detroit News posted an article by Mike Hudson, Hybrids are cool, but is it because they make others green with envy?

All I can say is, what's your problem Mr. Hudson?

"But, depending on whom you ask, our love for hybrids may only be highlighting just how shallow we are," states Hudson.

Mr. Hudson asserts that diesel engines are the future, not hybrids, not fuel cells. The same diesel that isn't allowed in vehicles in many parts of the country, is the future.

Hudson states, "As it stands, a modern diesel engine gets nearly identical mileage to a gasoline hybrid. But because of the oil-refining process, diesel costs less than gas and the engine tacks on only $1,000 or so to the sticker price of a car-- as opposed to $3,000 minimum for a hybrid system."

First, $3000.00 isn't the minimum on all hybrid vehicles.

Second, show me a car with a sticker price of $16,000.00 that compares to the Toyota Prius in functionality, design, and performance. I don't think such a car exists.

Third, a diesel, Mr. Hudson forgets to note, doesn't get nearly the same fuel efficiency as a full hybrid in stop-and-go traffic and emits far more pollution than a Toyota Prius or Ford Escape Hybrid in such driving conditions.

The hybrid powertrain is in fact, a diverse piece of technology, and it's full potential has not even been utilized. Already hybrid vehicles come in three distinct flavors, a compact Sedan in the Prius, an SUV with the Escape hybrid, and a sporty Sedan in the Honda Accord hybrid. Each offer unique attributes for different kinds of driving.

New diesels, according to most experts, are typically 30 percent more efficient than standard gasoline engines. Of course, Advanced Gasoline Engines are also 20 percent more efficient than standard gasoline engines, and emit far less pollutants than diesel. So which is better?

The larger point, which Mr. Hudson appears to have no clue, is that a hybrid car can utilize a standard gasoline engine, an advanced gasoline engine, or even Hudson's favorite, a diesel engine - Ford has already created such concept vehicles - as part of its powertrain. Even more important, a hybrid could be powered by a hydrogen engine, or a fuel cell.

Perhaps Mr. Hudson hasn't heard of the Hydrogen Economy?

While the hydrogen economy is probably a few decades away, hybrid vehicles represent an interim technology to the future, diesels represent a bump in the road.

Rather than shallowness, hybrid cars demonstrate that people not only care about ending foreign-oil dependency and cleaning the environment, but we care about building our technological and manufacturing infrastructure around technologies focused on the future, a better future.

If that is Mr. Hudson's definition of shallow, then call me shallow.

While diesel could represent an important piece of the hybrid powertrain, diesel in place of hybrid vehicles, would be step backwards, not forward.

In my opinion, calling hybrid cars shallow is ignorant.

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Welcome to hybrid car blog.

Hybrid car blog is going to be developed into the hybrid car blog for Soultek.com.

Hybrid cars represent the future. The myriad of possible hybrid powertrain combinations make hybrid vehicles an excellent interim technology to the hydrogen economy.

While it's great to take a step towards the future, the most impressive thing about full hybrids, such as the Toyota Prius Hybrid, or the Ford Escape Hybrid, isn't just fuel-efficiency, but the pollution reduction that the technology provides today.

The fuel economy of hybrids will only go up, as will speed and performance. The Honda Accord Hybrid is the best Accord ever. Quicker, faster, more powerful than it's conventional cousin, while also significantly cleaner and more fuel-efficient.

Hybrids will only get better, and cheaper. Isn't the environment worth it anyway?

Stay tuned for hybrid vehicle posts.