plug-in hybrid cars

Hybrid and electric car buyers are just better

Go ahead and hate me for being intelligent and responsible

What’s the cost of not taking action?

Sure, the buyers of hybrid and electric cars don’t always make the most cost-effective choices, but many times their choices are best, even financially. For example, many hybrid cars make the best city cars and they can be far more cost-effective than non-hybrids. But even if hybrids and plug-ins are not always cost-effective, at least hybrid and plug-in buyers are taking action, at least they’re taking responsibility.

The rest of America just talks about taking action. Blah, blah, blah. Some day I’m gonna go on a diet, stop smoking, start investing, be a better person — starting tomorrow. Always tomorrow. Sure, we can all talk a big game, but few of us even show up on game day. Thus, despite some arrogance and elitism, maybe even some ignorance, hybrid and electric car buyers are still better than most other Americans. Read more…

Lutz: Peak oil, global warming myths; electrification real

Is fracking inherently so much more dangerous than foreign oil dependence?

The new world order of energy?

If you attended the recent Deloitte & Touche oil and gas conference in Houston, you were left with one realization, according to Bob Lutz of BMW, Chrysler, Ford, and GM fame: US energy independence is now a potential reality. Thanks to an oil and natural gas boom, something even Lutz didn’t believe in until listening to the experts at the conference, OPEC independence could be achieved “in a period of a few years”.

Similarly, Lutz still believes man-caused global warming is just as much a myth as peak oil has become.

Nevertheless, despite a lack of CO2 or peak oil worries, Lutz still believes electrification is inevitable, and it won’t need to be supported by the government, at least not long term. Read more…

Lithium revolution dependent upon Toyota and hybrid cars

Plug-in Prius too rationale for electrification hype

OPUD: Over-promising and under-delivering the battery-powered future

I find it terribly unsettling how often fans of electrification ridicule Toyota. They don’t even use lithium in their conventional hybrid cars, they claim. As if all the lithium powered mild hybrids, full hybrids, plug-in hybrids and electric cars on the market today are dwarfing Toyota’s NiMH-powered sale’s advantage. In fact, if not for Toyota’s NiMH hybrids, there would have been far less cause for other automakers to try to leapfrog Toyota’s Prius with plug-ins like the Volt or the Leaf — which are more halo than sale’s products today.

Likewise, it is often claimed that Toyota’s upcoming plug-in hybrids don’t offer enough electric range, even though it’s beyond obvious that the key to plug-in success isn’t really about range today, it’s about cost.

Even more ironic, it seems quite obvious that the lithium revolution in the automotive space itself has become dependent upon Toyota, at least if it’s going to happen anytime soon. Read more…

Chevy Volt 2.0: How would you change GM’s plug-in?

Volt 2.0: How would you re-Volt GM's key plug-in?

Built for change, but how much change?

Early in Chevy Volt production, many things were possible. For instance, GM suggested a non-plug-in Volt, a Volt that utilized super-capacitors rather than batteries, as well as a Volt that replaced its electric range extending engine with a range extending fuel cell. Likewise, different amounts of electric range have also been contemplated.

And according to recent outside analysis of the Volt, much room for change was intentionally built into the Volt platform, such as room for new advanced electronics — possibly a path to increased electric range for less money.

So, how would you change Volt 2.0? Read more…

CARB’s BEVx to automakers: You don’t understand plug-in cars

The wrong kind of range extended plug-in through 2025?

Leaf, Plug-in Prius, and Volt all bad by design?

Not surprisingly the California Air Resources Board unanimously passed its Advanced Clean Cars (ACC) program for the technological requirements to meet emission requirements from 2015 – 2025. Under the plan, for instance, 1 out of 7 cars, or 15 percent of car sales, must be zero emission vehicles by 2025.

While the aggressive goals are an interesting conversation in and of themselves, what’s perhaps even more interesting is the new kind of plug-in that CARB is now expecting automakers to develop, the BEVx. Apparently, as far as CARB is concerned, technologies such as the Nissan Leaf, the Toyota Prius plug-in, and the Chevy Volt, just aren’t good enough. Read more…

Why the Chevy Volt will sell much better in 2012

Chevy Volt sales will spike in 2012.

HOV lane access will trump non-existent fire worries

Everyone that follows Chevy Volt and plug-in news closely knows that the fire concerns around the Volt’s battery pack have been blown out of proportion. I think even the politicians leading the charge in the Congressional investigation into the Volt know the Volt is safe. This is about politics and the NHTSA’s handling of its Volt crash testing.

Still, the Volt’s image has been tarnished and it is affecting sales in some areas, but 2012 will be a much better year for Volt sales than was 2011. Read more…

Trickle down economics: Fisker’s fantastic designs not enough

No doubt, Fisker can design beautiful cars, but is that enough?

The Aston Martin of plug-in vehicles didn’t deserve fed backed loans

I still remember the first time I saw the Fisker Karma. Even though I’m not much of a car guy, I was moved. However, as I tried to interact with the arrogant stuff, some of my enthusiasm was lost. This is a car, as well as a car company, for snobs, but at least slightly green snobs.

But is fantastically designed packaging built for green snobs enough to make Fisker, particularly with the help of government support? Read more…

Bad PR – Fire concerns have definitely hurt the Chevy Volt

Volt reputation burned by a lack of honesty and transparency?

Will NHTSA’s safety stamp change that?

Is the Chevy Volt an Audi 5000? According to the AutomotiveNews, some Chevy dealers are not accepting their full allotment of Chevy Volts, citing limited demand. Of course, now that the NHTSA has given Volt safety a thumbs up, that sale’s story could quickly change.

Nevertheless, there is no doubt that Chevy Volt safety and fire concerns have tarnished the Volt brand, and that’s too bad, but is the damage just temporary? Read more…

Chevy Volt-gate over, at least as for as government is concerned

Volt-gate is over: The Volt is safe.

Neither Volt nor EVs pose greater fire risks

Today the government closed its case on an investigation into Chevy Volt fire risks, announcing that both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as well as the Obama Administration, consider the case closed following some minor updates by GM to further contain any potential for battery fires following a severe crash.

Perhaps more important, the NHTSA issued some new protocols for first responders, as well as announced that “consumers, the emergency response community, and tow truck operators and storage facilities” need better education regarding the different “attributes” of plug-in vehicles. Read more…

Survey says: The kids want hybrid cars

A good concept for a future Scion hybrid?

Study suggests that Generation Y could be the tipping point for hybrid mainstreaming

I’m not a big fan of consumer studies and surveys. It’s always easier to talk the talk than to walk the walk, and a decade of hybrid surveys and hybrid sales proves the relative futility of such social science. Nevertheless, trying to get a read on the future of automotive consumer psychology appears to be a necessary evil.

Anyway, a new Deloitte study claims that Generation Y is ready to leave conventional gas guzzlers behind in favor of hybrid cars, as long as they’re not plug-ins. Read more…