Hybrid Sales: Proof that plug-in hybrids have been over-hyped?
Buzz killer - Toyota's third generation hybridAccording to recent studies, most Americans are interested in hybrid vehicles, such as the Toyota Prius. Moreover, the hype around plug-in hybrids, such as the Chevy Volt, couldn't be any greater.
Despite interest in hybrid vehicles, however, most Americans are not buying hybrids because they don't want to pay extra for such vehicles regardless of the benefits. If Americans won't pay more for today's hybrids, will they pay more for tomorrow's more expensive plug-in hybrids? Read more....
Labels: Chevy Volt electric vehicle concept, Hybrid Vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles, toyota prius
posted by Dahcredyns at
11:25 AM
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When rumors started hitting the Internet that Toyota's third generation Hybrid Synergy Drive was going to use lithium batteries, I was confident the world was on the verge of a real automotive revolution.
Lithium, I thought, simply provided better economies of scale than NiHM batteries, which meant better and cheaper batteries - better and cheaper hybrids.
Today, it seems, there won't be any mass-produced lithium-powered hybrids until some time after 2010, maybe even longer.
Regardless, today's NiMH-powered hybrid cars are still excellent vehicles. Many hybrids, such as the Toyota Prius and the Toyota Camry hybrid, can be much better financial bargains than conventional vehicles if you keep the cars for at least 4 to 5 years.
And hybrids have the attention of the American public. According to a Harris Interactive Study, 83 percent of Americans are interested in alternative powertrain vehicles, such as hybrids, yet only a couple of percent of those interested in hybrids actually by them (more).
Turns out people want more fuel efficient vehicles. They want cleaner vehicles. They just don't want to pay extra for such vehicles.
While plug-in hybrids, such as a plug-in Prius or a Chevy Volt, have inspired lots of interest in the public, would a significant percentage of Americans actually buy them, especially if they cost even more than today's hybrid cars?
Maybe, but it certainly isn't a sure thing based on today's hybrid sales.
Ultimately, I sometimes wonder if car technology is really the solution to issues like foreign oil dependency or global warming. If Americans paid the real cost of fuels like gasoline and diesel, such as the military and coast guard costs of securing America's foreign oil, which costs tax payers tens of billions of dollars every year - not including war costs - gas would cost a lot more at the pump. And, if you added in the health care costs attributed to automotive pollution to those security costs, gas prices would easily be 2 or 3 times what they are today.
Such prices would have had a drastic impact on the types of cars that Americans would have been buying over the last few decades.
Anyway, while I have great confidence that a company like GM can and will produce the Chevy Volt, the real question is, will such vehicles really change anything if they are priced higher than conventional vehicles?
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