Posted on 09/25/2012 7:23:07 AM PDT by Red Badger
A new study by R.L. Polk & Co. shows that the overall percentage of hybrids sold into the new vehicle market has fallen from 2.9 percent to 2.4 percent over the past three years. Moreover, approximately two-thirds of hybrid owners who returned to the market in 2011 did not buy another hybrid.
"Intuitively, you would expect the numbers to be higher, given how many hybrid vehicles are available in the market place today," Brad Smith, director of Polk's loyalty management practice, told us.
Polk's study revealed that only 35 percent of hybrid owners chose to purchase a hybrid again when returning to the market in 2011. The repurchase rate was even lower -- under 25 percent -- when owners of the Toyota Prius were excluded from the statistics.
Industry experts familiar with the study don't believe that the low percentage of return buyers is a reflection of dissatisfaction with hybrids. Most hybrids, such as the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight, have performed well in reliability studies and have offered fuel efficiencies as advertised.
But hybrids now face competition from conventional gasoline-burning and diesel-burning vehicles that are boosting their fuel efficiencies. As a result, prospective buyers whose main concern is vehicle operating costs may be less inclined to choose a hybrid.
"People who buy hybrids because they are eco-friendly are more likely to stick with it and buy another hybrid," said Lacey Plache, chief economist for Edmunds.com. "But hybrids are facing really strong competition in terms of attracting consumers who are just looking at the bottom line."
Waste Management Inc. our local garbage company is converting their garbage truck fleet to natural gas............
I would have thought that big battery would make a great weight...................
That actually may make sense... the conversion is relatively inexpensive and the when compared to gasoline the energy equivalent makes natural gas approximately $1.50 per gallon.
I think they are using diesel........
Well they aren’t converting the diesels. They must be buying new trucks. They are probably doing that because of the new diesel regulations. The new filters on the exhaust side must have the particulate burned out of them using a “regen” cycle. This isn’t a big problem for trucks operated mostly on the highway, but for fire engines, garbage trucks and other diesel trucks used mostly around town... it is a huge hassle and waste of fuel. They must leave the truck running for hours at high rpms with a fuel and regen fluid mixture being injected directly into the filter assembly to burn out the particulate. It is one of the stupidest things that the EPA has come out with recently and is causing lots of firms to turn from diesel for local use.
Natural gas is an excellent choice for a fleet vehicle (and could be for others with an infrastructure buildout). Natural gas vehicles can also use hybrid tech.
I had successful connections twice to the Mercury Mariner Hybrid for the trailer wiring. First pass was done by the U-Haul dealer. That failed and I replaced it with another module from a trailer supply company. That worked for a few months until it failed when a wire driving the trailer lamps got pinched to ground and burned up the driver module. That also burned down my battery. It is possible to properly run trailer lights with the correct driver modules, but it takes some real care to not screw it up.
My Mariner Hybrid has backup sensors, so the correct wiring interface module is at this link
Just curious, why would ANYBODY buy a dog slow hybrid as a “hobby” car?
Why do liberals behave the way they do? They are space aliens. The Hybrid gives them the electric juice to contact their home planet Dumas.
Based on the snow tracks, it also seemed to be more narrow than every other car on the road.
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