Posted on 02/13/2006 10:36:24 AM PST by voletti
With more of the gas-electric cars on the road, it's time to dispel some of the misinformation surrounding these alternative vehicles
Five years ago hybrid cars were an unknown commodity. Today vehicles powered by a combination of gasoline and electricity are all the rage. Like any new technology, until you get your hands on it -- in this case, on the steering wheel -- it's hard to get your mind around it.
If you are having a tough time separating hybrid truth from reality, you're not alone. The warp-speed adoption of hybrids into popular culture -- and into hundreds of thousands of American driveways -- has produced more than a little confusion and misinformation. Most industry analysts predict the continued growth of gas-electric vehicles, with estimates ranging from 600,000 to 1,000,000 hybrid sales in the U.S. by 2010, so this is a good time to debunk the 10 most prevalent myths about hybrid cars.
1. You need to plug in a hybrid car. As soon as the word "electricity" is spoken, you think of plugs, cords, and wall sockets. But today's hybrid cars don't need to be plugged in. Auto engineers have developed an ingenious system known as regenerative braking. (Actually, they borrowed the concept from locomotive technology.) Energy usually lost when a vehicle is slowing down or stopping is reclaimed and routed to the hybrid's rechargeable batteries. The process is automatic, so no special requirements are placed on the driver.
Car companies explain that drivers don't have to plug in their vehicles, but a growing number of them wish they had a plug-in hybrid. The ability to connect a hybrid into the electric grid overnight to charge a larger set of batteries means that most of your city driving could be done without burning a single drop of gasoline.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
Either putting it away, or using it for something else.
the goal is to consume less gasoline, electricity is generated in many other ways that do not require importing oil.
Night is also when I would run the cord over to my neighbor's outside outlet and plug it in, further reducing my costs... :-)
"The question is, though, how many miles do you get to drive with that $1.44 of electricity, and would $1.44 worth of hydrocarbon fuel take you further?:
They may have an answer here:
http://www.calcars.org/
The question is, though, how many miles do you get to drive with that $1.44 of electricity, and would $1.44 worth of hydrocarbon fuel take you further?
They are modifying hybrids, adding battery pack and charger. From what I remember reading, it sounds like about 50-60 MPG on a charge, not a bad deal. For most people that covers your commute to and from work. If I had a hybrid modified in this way I could probably go for months and have to do nothing other than plug it in at night. A charge every day would mean you might spend $525 per year. $at 50 miles per day only, you could travel 18250 miles per year and never go to a gas station. All this depends, of course, on the info on the web site being accurate and correct. But as far as I can tell this is just a good example of AMERICAN engineers coming up with a good and workable solution to this problem.
http://www.calcars.org/vehicles.html
Hmmm. In that chart, the average for non-hybrid was within 1 MPG of the low end MPG (with only one exception of less than 2). For the Hybrid the difference was 10MPG (20 for Highway).
My understanding is that for the hybrids, the battery acts as a test loophole, since it is fully charged at the beginning of the test and somewhere between the recharge point and full at the end of the test - thus acting like a little extra gasoline in the tank. The highway test (which starts with the car having already been running) seems to reflect both this, and the relative lack of efficiency at speeds above 40 mph or so.
Uh, yes I have smart aleck. I'm an electrical engineer, and I know that the net energy savings from just pumping electrical into the grid far outweighs drilling, piping or shipping, cracking and refining, and delivering fuel. Disseminating electrical energy over a unified (relatively) grid fed from a point source is more efficient, as are electric motors (85% or better typical efficiency, vs greater heat and entropy losses in internal combustion). I'm simply asking why they don't go the plug in route for city driving, letting you save your gas for long-haul trips.
You are making a joke, right?
"Says it is great on gas and has more power than you would think it would."
When you run the air conditioner the battery pack doesn't charge, so that blows alot of the fuel improvement in the summer.
Doesn't sound so great if you live where the summers are hot.
I'll consider one someday I am sure. When it makes economic sense, I'll buy one.
Same here, when they make a plasma HDTV for around $500, I'll buy one. Same holds true for almost every new technology, the trick is holding out until there's a cheaper price or a better technology. Of course, I may be waiting forever.
I don't think this counts as a myth but hybrids can't tow anything worthwhile.
That Prius is one ugly automobile, and that's no myth.
If gasoline has 37 KWH/gallon and electricity costs 10c/KWH, then the equivalent cost of electricity is $3.70/gallon.
The site you linked assumes the equivalence to be $1.00.
It looks like you don't gain much by plugging them in to charge, in fact you lose, since the juice costs more than the equivalent gas.
You get the illusion of tremendous MPG, though, since you don't use much gasoline, but are burning oil at a remote plant.
If you charged from a windmill you'd save. Windmills are a viable option, but the USG subsidizes home windplants (a negative from my viewpoint)- if you ignore the capital investment it's "free" electricity.
I own a 2004 Prius & have had nothing but a great experience.
I love my Prius, get about 48 mpg & have plenty of pick up & room for 2 dogs in the hatchback.
I live in the middle of Wyoming, and not to rain on your parade, but 20 miles will not get you to a gas station in the middle of Wyoming.
So you could use the vehicle for MORE than just around town driving. Around town you don't use much gas at all, but if you go on a long trip, you use the juice as long as it lasts, then the gas kicks in for the long haul.
I'm looking forward to being able to get a Plug In Hybrid MINI-VAN!! I love my van because it is very versatile, and I like the thought of being able to drive around town without spewing crap into the air.
I'm not looking to save the world, but if I can help with something I gotta have anyway, why not? I'm also not looking for a hundred miles to the gallon. I get about 20 now, so 30 looks good to me!
Sounds good to me. Instead of running down the whole concept, folks should be pushing for those nuke and renewable sources. I myself would love to live in a sunny enough place that I could put some solar cells on the roof of my house, and keep the car plugged in in the garage when I'm not using it.
Yeah, folks keep saying that, but does the diesel have ZERO emissions when tooling around town?
That would make me smile every time I cranked the car!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.