Posted on 06/06/2006 6:16:07 PM PDT by G. Stolyarov II
That's just about the number I came up with too.
Buy a real truck, with a manual trans, run a generator from the PTO drive.
Done right you can also run winches, air compressors, saws.....
My Land Rover has this, as will our 454 powered Willy's/Chevy PU.
The sucky part is the higher price of diesel.
Nobody is expected to have to replace the batteries in the Toyota Synergy Drive hybrids. The warranty is 15 years in California. The batteries are operated in a narrow operating range where there is virtually no memory loss over time, and the materials do not tend to break down.
If the batteries DO need replacement, it is likely to be a few cells, Toyota has a recycling program set up, and the total cost will most likely be under a thousand.
THe batteries have a high "retail" price, and since nobody is really replacing them, and those that are are still under warranty, there isn't a good idea for the aftermarket cost.
But when I totalled my Prius, and was trying to find out what I could get for it piecework, the most I could get anybody to commit for the battery was about $800. The EXPENSIVE part is the inverter.
While I'm at it, remember that, at the moment, the U.S. government will be paying about $3500 of that 5000 extra price in tax credits (which are a horrible idea -- note that the original Prius was only about $3000 more than what they thought a non-hybrid version would cost, back when you just got a deduction. But when government throws extra money in, and people are still willing to pay the same price, the manufacturer is free to raise the price accordingly, just like colleges raised their tuition to absorb the various credits and grants given for post-secondary education.
Tax credit, made up for by the general public, close enough to a mandate for me!
The average automobile in the US is driven less than 15000 miles per year. Hybrids use internal combustion engines. Hybrids are tiny, cost excessive amounts, and don't save life cycle costs. Nor do batteries. These are just the facts.
"Buy a real truck, with a manual trans, run a generator from the PTO drive."
The military surplus trucks have some interesting models... bonus points if you can haul a dozen soldiers while towing artillery pieces thru the snowdrifts in your neighborhood.
Again, there are no batteries to be replaced every 8 years, that's just when the warranty expires. Do you expect to replace your car's engine when it's warranty expires?
Virtually no batteries have been replaced on priuses, except for manufacturer defects. A cabbie in Canada drove over 200,000, and Toyota took his battery and gave him a new one to study, and found that the battery was "like-new".
The battery is not a critical part of the system (in regards to performing in like-new fashion), they are just a temporary storage medium for energy that would otherwise go to waste. The batteries are operated in a narrow range, 40-80% of charge, and in those ranges the batteries suffer no noticable depreciation in capability. But if they did, and after 10 years you were using 30-90% of the range, you would still not have to replace the battery.
Meanwhile, the system is extremely simple from a mechanical point of view, it doesn't even have a transmission, the brakes get less wear, the gas engine is never fired unless it is already spinning at 1500 RPM and the oil is pumping. The only complication is the computer software.
I've driven my 2002 Prius over 50,000 miles, and the only thing we've replaced are the tires. Realise that the engine even runs much less than normal for the mileage so if normally the engine would last 200,000 miles, the Prius engine should last 300,000. Electric motors virtually never wear out -- these have no brushes, and the bearings are replacable but don't get a lot of wear either.
If you started with an electric car, and decided to add a gas engine for recharging, and then figured out what the best way was to use it, you'd end up with the Prius.
Well, you can sneak up on people. My kids will be playing outside, and I'll start going slow so that the electric motor kicks in. My kids are really surprised when they see me.
When the kids were very little and went to bed early, it was nice to be able to leave the drive way without making much noise because the electric motor was on.
If you're in stop and go traffic, it's very quiet and smooth with the electric motor.
I don't know how the transmission works. My husband knows all about it. It somehow uses the computer to change the gears, and so the acceleration is awesome on the highway!!
I drive a mini-van, and you can't compare those two cars. However, when I go to my parents, I'll drive my mom's Lexus and the Prius handles just as well.
Also have to mention the computer graphics. It has this fancy screen that shows when the electric motor is going, and how much gas mileage you're getting. My computer geek loves to try to get better gas mileage. It's a computer geek's dream car.
People will compare the Prius to the Echo, and the Echo is not great to drive. It feels like a light little cheap car. The Prius feels handles like a nice expensive car.
I haven't driven (or seen) the new hybrid Camry. It would be fun to test drive one.
I always tell people to test drive a hybrid before they start condeming them. They are fun!
Are studded snow tires an option? When you have 3 feet
of snow with a nice 1 inch of ice that WILL be around till
May--I was just wonedering.
How do you go to the bathroom?
Hybrid, turbo diesel, 2 stoke...all transitional technologies leading us to one inescapable result.
The thermonuclear-powered flying car!
I drive about 10,000 miles a year in the Prius, and average about 44 miles to the gallon. I replaced a Sentra which got about 30.
I don't even have to go through emmissions inspection, the car is so clean. Oh, that's right, some people think the point is gas mileage -- but for me the point was NOT POLLUTING the earth quite so much. It's why I have an electric lawn mower, as well.
Fussing? I think some people are just saying the economics is not there yet for hybrids which is no surprise.
There are always early adopters who buy the latest gizmo on the mkt, slap down 2 grand for a HDTV set, etc so they can yap about it to their friends. And then there are many others who wait for the prices to drop. That's how it usually goes.
Actually, a few hackers have converted their Prius cars to be generators for their houses as well, highly efficient, very clean-burning, generates 20,000+ watts of power.
In Japan, their Prius cars come with optional self-parking software, to parallel-park the car without assistance.
I'll be the first on my block to buy a hybrid when Hummer makes one I can drive in the HOV lane over the tree hugging camary drivers with my gear head and geek friends.
And thus the theoretical long term savings is never attained.
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