Hybrids just an interim technology? Doubtful
Still the most important vehicle on the road today, and tomorrow
Hybrids will be around for decades, maybe forever
I used to believe the best hybrid car was a plug-in hybrid and that plug-in hybrids were far more important than pure battery-powered electric cars, at least in the interim. Not anymore.
Nonetheless, one thing seems quite clear, the impact of hybrid technology is only just beginning.
In a perfect world pure battery-powered plug-in electric cars are probably a better solution than both conventional hybrid cars and plug-in hybrid cars, at least for 75 percent of US drivers. Unfortunately, I’m not sure such a perfect world will ever exist. Moreover, hydrogen hybrid vehicles might prove even better than pure battery powered electric cars.
If not, algae-fueled hybrids, for instance, might become more cost-effective and functional than electric cars until a solar-powered, super smart-grid and cheap, 500 mile-per-charge batteries are achieved.
In the interim, hybrid cars are FAR more important than both plug-in hybrids and battery electrics.
Not only can hybrid cars achieve equal or even greater CO2 emission reductions than any type of plug-in – well-to-wheel based on today’s battery technologies and infrastructures – but today’s hybrid vehicles can do so far more cost effectively, and they could be converted into plug-in vehicles if battery technologies eventually prove themselves to be cost-effectively viable.
That later point is probably the most important point of all.
The legacy of abuse is often more damaging than the abuse itself
Quite simply, the legacy effect is one of the greatest dangers posed by today’s foreign oil dependence. Starting today, it would take roughly 20 years to replace the current 250+ million fleet of American gas guzzlers based upon average yearly vehicle production and sales. Thus, even if only the perfect foreign oil-fighting solution were sold starting today – all personal vehicle sales - the US would still be dependent upon foreign oil until well into the next decade.
Unfortunately, any such ‘perfect’ solution could be decades away.
Consequently, any technology that can reduce the impact of the legacy effect ASAP is extremely important. Hybrid cars easily offer the most cost-effective and consumer-friendly solution for dealing with the legacy effect, while offering significant reductions in CO2 emissions and foreign oil consumption today, and over the life of the vehicles.
In the interim, that’s an undeniable fact.
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So what? Hybrids still aren’t cost effective? Wanna make a bet? Check out Why You Should Buy a Hybrid.
just continue to plug away on your mission here, it’s appreciated.
Yeah. I actually started a post on that, Zen, but it was so negative I held off since I’m trying to be a tad more positive these days. I might still circle back to it yet.
No comment on this doozy? Seems like nothing has changed at GM:
Speaking to the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. this week, GM CEO Dan Akerson described Toyota’s hybrid as a “geek-mobile,” and flatly declared that he “wouldn’t be caught dead in a Prius.”
http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/12/ce-oh-no-he-didnt-gms-dan-akerson-says-he-wouldnt-be-caugh/
That’s not much of argument, Christof.
There have been numerous consumer studies that totally contradict you carried out by a plethora of diverse organizations. Ultimately, all show consumers are far more interested in hybrids compared to plug-ins. Unfortunately, most aren’t interested in either if they are much more expensive compared to conventional technologies.
According to a massive amount of battery research from the National Resource Council, Oxford University, Carnegie Melon, just to name as few, as well as lithium researchers working on lithium for the last 30 years, only a major battery breakthrough is going to make battery-powered vehicles cost-effectively viable. Until then hybrid cars offer the most bang for the buck, followed by small battery plug-in hybrids that can charge regularly. Unfortunately, according to the researchers it could decades to make a major break through cost-effective for the auto industry. For instance, it took 30 years of lithium battery manufacturing to finally move such batteries into cars.
This isn’t what I’m hoping for, nor what I would prefer, but it is the picture being painted by a massive amount of data.
Interesting argument. In the interest of different perspectives, here’s a different one:
In a world with PHEVs and EVs, hybrids are boring, status quo, and become extremely unappealing to people who want to make as clean a break from oil as possible.
Pretty soon, plug-in hybrids outnumber plain hybrids 2 to 1, then 3 to 1, 4 to 1, etc., until finally, hybrids fizzle completely.
Far-fetched?
Not at all, especially if plug-in hybrids quickly close the price gap between traditional hybrids and PHEVs.
In fact, we’re coming up on a car buying decision and want to make as clean a break as possible from oil. With pure EVs and plug-in hybrids coming, we have absolutely no interest in hybrids (we’ll be getting one pure EV, one PHEV)
Are we everyone? No.
But there are a lot of folks out there like us,
from left-wing greenies to right-wing national security get us off foreign oil folks, far more than most people seem to realize.