Hybrid Car - Practical or Not?

[NeoNSX]

There has been much discussion about hybrid cars in the past; especially speculation about the NSXv2.0 being one...

Here's a REALLY INTERESTING read on the costs and practicality of hybrids. (not from a mechanical point of view, but a customers)

<A HREF="http://www.bankrate.com/ust/news/auto/car-guide/hybrid.asp">Is a hybrid car right for you?</A>

 

[Rubber Chicken]

Yes but you can't put a price on the environment.

Its a little selfish to think that the only reasons ppl buy hybrids is to save themselves money...

 

[DanO]

Originally posted by Rubber Chicken:
Yes but you can't put a price on the environment.

Its a little selfish to think that the only reasons ppl buy hybrids is to save themselves money...

Pop environmentalism.

I think there are some cases where a hybrid car can make sense for both the environment and wallet but it depends on the car’s particular use. Remember, a hybrid car only generates electricity when the car decelerates relatively slowly. If the car is going to see a lot of highway miles, then I don’t think it makes sense for the wallet OR the environment to carry around all that extra weight and technology (some of which is not that friendly to the environment to produce and/or dispose of). Hybrid semi-trucks, for example probably don’t make a lot of sense since they spend most of their time on the highway. On the other hand, a vehicle that sees a lot of stop-and-go traffic may benefit from a hybrid design, but the current financial benefits are questionable as well as the net environmental benefits—but the technology is young. One thing for sure, the technology is cool and I’ve driven the Insight a few times and it is a fun car to drive!

I also think the net environmental benefit of electric and/or fuel cell cars are questionable. For electric cars, the electricity still needs to be produced somewhere, either by big coal-burning facilities, oil or nuclear—all of which will suffer significant transmission loss over a huge grid of high-voltage lines—none of which will be pretty for the environment or the skyline. Fuel cell vehicles face the same problem with the generation and transportation of hydrogen. However, I have heard concepts to flood our highway medians with water and generate hydrogen from phytoplankton on the water’s surface.

Currently, there is little market or real environmental incentive (solution) to get rid of the internal combustion engine. When gasoline is $10 a gallon this will all change <g>.

Dan

 

[Joel]

What engineers need to do is spend time perfecting solar-powered cars.

Driven by the sun during the day, battery at night.

[This message has been edited by Joel (edited 06 March 2003).]