America Needs Hybrid Cars

Millersburg Military Institute Creative Writing | May 6, 2005 | Cadet Ben Smith

[jbstrick]

"Hybrid cars can get up to 55 to 60 mpg in city driving, "

BS

read here..

http://www.taemag.com/issues/articleID.18103/article_detail.asp

[RobRoy]

Well, personally, I think the government should require all those who live less than 25 miles from their job to ride a bicycle to work. That should solve many problems at once...

Oh, and </sarcasm>

[wk4bush2004]

Which is why we should build more nuclear power plants.

And we should work on developing fusion power.

[VeniVidiVici]

They say that these 250 buses save as much fuel as 8,000 hybrid cars. ,/b>

Are you saying I should buy a bus?

And for the cadet; it doesn't matter if hybrids are allowed to drive in the carpool lanes in FL. Marked carpool lanes are ignored in Orlando.

[dhs12345]

Where do they get the hydrogen?

[orionblamblam]

Yuck. Hydrogen fuel cells are the wrong answer... what's needed are TDP plants, and lots of em. With cheap artificial petroleum, nobody would need to trade in their existing vehicles, and the economy would be able to continue.

[wk4bush2004]

This may be a dumb question, but what are TDP plants?

[B Knotts]

Nope. Hybrids are only good as city cars.

We need more diesels.

[martin_fierro]

Do the math, willya?

Honda Accord Sedan (gas): Starting at $16,295

Honda Accord Sedan (Hybrid): Starting at $30,140

Assuming I spend $1000/year on gas, it'll be 13 -- almost 14 -- years before the Hybrid pays for itself. No, thanks.

Put that in yer diarama and smoke it.

[Redcloak]

Ahh... To be young and exuberant again.

Hybrids are a very interesting idea, but the young lad is overstating his case. Gas is unlikely to hit $3/gal. any time soon. Supply is up and demand is falling. The current high prices are due to speculator hype more than anything else. The bubble will burst and probably do so fairly soon. This doesn't mean that gas prices won't climb over time; China and India are using more and more gas and other petroleum products.

Over the long haul, switching Americans over to hybrids makes sense economically, but it may make more sense in terms of politics. We may finally be at the point, technologically, were we can cut OPEC loose. And if gas/electric hybrids are interesting from this perspective, biodiesel/electric hybrids may be even more interesting. (A study on the feasibility of large scale biodiesel production may be found here.) The hybrid may be a way for the US to stop caring so much about the sensitivities of various Arab princelings.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

We need hydrogen fuel-cell cars. Then we won't have to worry about gasoline at all.

Thank God pure H₂ is plentiful and free. </sarcasm>

[Leavehimalone]

Hey kid, don't listen to these old cynics in here as far as teasing on ya, but definitely listent to what they're saying on cost-benefit, and do your homework on it. Good luck. Maybe write a letter to your congressmen/women and tell them to push for large city vecihles, which appear (earlier post) to be better off. Good luck and keep trying to be part of the solution instead of contributing to the problem.

[ZGuy]

I wondered too and just found this : Thermal Depolymerization: Energy-Crisis Solution which I think would actually make for a more interesting post/discussion.

[dhs12345]

"...Value-for-money is more important to most people, and the additional cost attached to hybrids puts many off...."

Wrong! for me anyway.

1. They are in very short supply which drives the price up.

2. Wait list is months. No way am I going to put money down on a car that I won't see for months.

3. Only certain types of driving bennifit from a hybrid. Mainly city. Even if I don't get 60mpg, 50, 45 is fine. Better than 25 - 30mpg.

If they improve the supply issue, hybrids will become popular.

Maybe all of this has improved since I was looking for a car last year.

[massgopguy]

And a "Hindenberg" on every corner to supply them.

[wk4bush2004]

I've been looking at it too. I think it's a great idea. The US should start a massive effort to implement it.

[B Knotts]

Something for you to chew on:

Widescale Biodiesel Production from Algae

[Leavehimalone]

http://science.howstuffworks.com/fuel-cell5.htm

[km6xu]

It troubles me to continue to see ignorance stated as fact. Most 'hybrid' cars, including the Toyota Prius, use a Ni-Mh battery pack. This technology can be (and is required by law to be) recycled with remarkable efficiency and very little waste. After all of these years, failures of the Prius battery pack are still under the one percent mark, and the prices for replacement packs (yes, that day will come for some) continue to drop.

A friend with an old Prius gets 48 MPG with mostly highway driving, while another friend with a new Prius gets 53 MPG in mostly city driving. While these numbers fall short of the EPA sticker, the fact that this car tops the Consumer Reports list in the "Customer satisfaction" category.

We are all skeptics, but the numbers don't lie. The 'hybrid' should be viewed as a "stop gap" technology, but its life as such will likely be extended by this hydrogen-highway sham. Nuclear power using 21st century technologies coupled with cars like the EV1 and the RAV4EV would be a much better solution, but there is little interest amongst those who matter (the oil industry and our elected representatives that are beholden to them).

[Wonder Warthog]

"Problem with hybrid-electrics is what do you do with the batteries at the end of vehicle life?"

Recycle them. As I recall, the recycle rate of lead batteries is around 90+% (or higher---its been a while since I looked up the statistics)---[late note--one source on Google gives the rate as 97.1% between 1997 and 2001]. I suspect the way it will work is you will drive back to the Toyota dealer (for your Prius), they will pull the old batteries and send them to the recycler, and put new ones in.