Hybrid Car Myth #9:
"Hybrids are small and cramped."
Aside from the Lexus GS Hybrid 2007 and other sedans like the Honda Accord hybrid, there are also lots of SUV hybrids coming out. You've probably seen a few here and there already. Anyway, Consumer Reports rated two hybrids as best mid-size SUVs in the industry in October '05--the Toyoto Highlander and the Lexus RX400h.
Hybrid Car Myth #10:
"Hybrids are brand-new technology."
According to an article in Business Week, I was surprised to learn that an American engineer name H. Piper filed a patent for the first gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle in 1905! Evidently, in 1900, equal numbers of electric, steam, and gasoline powered vehicles were produced. It wasn't until the invention of the electric starter, combined with the production of cheap gasoline did the steam and electric vehicles disappear.
Hybrid Car Myth #11:
"People buy hybrids just to save money on gas."
Enter the "X Factor"....read on...
Check out these interesting statistics from ConsumerReports.org on car owner satisfaction. (Well, not these first statistics, but you need to read them to prepare you for the 'surprise' statistics :)
Consumer Reports had polled owners of new vehicles (year 2006) for their ratings on different aspects of their cars. The "overall" satisfaction rates ranged from a low of 40% who said they'd purchase another vehicle of the same make and model to an average high of around 70% who said they'd purchase their cars again in the future.
O.K. this is where it gets interesting: Breaking the 'norm' for domestic car owner satisfaction was the Chevrolet Corvette with a whopping 88% who said they'd buy another Corvette...
But wait--96% of hybrid car owners--up 1% from 95% in 2005--said they'd purchase another hybrid!
To me, these lopsided statistics don't make sense from a "normal person" point of view; that is, there's something else going on here inside the heads of hybrid owners. I mean, c'mon, a hybrid vehicle may be good, but it's still just a damn automobile, a way to get from point A to point B.
Well, the difference is what I'll call the "X Factor", which represents the unique attitude that most hybrid car owners have about their cars. You see, it's not the hybrid cars themselves that hybrid owners are thinking about so much as that they are defiantely proud and defensive of their decisions to go with a hybrid. This "X factor" warps the statistics here.
Alright, I've rambled on enough on this subject. Onward...
Hybrid Car Myth #12:
"Hybrids are our answer to our dependence on the Middle East for oil...thank heavens!"
I wish this were true but sadly, it isn't. Not by a long shot. Although the numbers of hybrid cars on the road is increasing fast, it will barely make a dent in our dependence on foreign oil. Here's why: 200,000 hybrids were sold in 2005 with 2006 looking to finish up doubling that. (J.D. Power pegs hybrid sales at 400,000 in the U.S. by the end of 2007.) ExxonMobile forecasts 30% of the total vehicle sales will be hybrids by 2030.
Let's say the milestone of 1 million hybrids on the road is reached between 2007 and 2008. This seems encouraging until you realize that there's around 200 million vehicles on the road today and over 700 million worldwide! And the numbers of all types of vehicles--hybrid or not--continue to increase exponentially. China alone has jumped in with an exploding car market.
So, as far as independence from foreign oil is concerned, we have to look at hybrids as being only a partial solution. We need new technology, like hydrogen fuel---which is made from water! With the only by-product/exhaust being water and carbon dioxide. (Not carbon monoxide like with fossil fuels.)
However, mass-produced hydrogen fuel is forecast not to be a reality until 2050! Not fast enough! It's not fast enough because the absolute limits of fossil fuel availability is forecast to be around 2035, given the present growth of the world's swelling fuel demands.
The next page find out how Japan Succeeds with the Toyota Prius...
But, I have no doubt that we'll figure something out once the oil wells start to dry up. -ed.
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