Bigger
hybrid vehicles are better, right?
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
A
better application for hybrid technology?
Small cars, so goes the thinking of some, are already fuel
efficient, so why waste costly hybrid technology on small hybrid
vehicles? Instead, putting that hybrid technology in
large vehicles, they note, actually saves more fuel.
I thought about that this weekend as I watched a few Cadillac
Escalade hybrid commercials. 'Why are hybrids always
small cars,' the driver of an Escalade hybrid asks. Why
not a vehicle with an 8 inch nav screen, dvd entertainment
system and room for 8, yadda, yadda, yadda.
The room for 8 is key. The driver asks this question as he
drives alone in this vehicle made for 8.
Sure, if you regularly drive with 8 people in your hybrid
SUV, then large hybrids are certainly better than small
hybrids. However, if you rarely drive with 8, or even 4
for that matter, then you are wasting an extreme amount of
energy and fuel.
Additionally, touching back on small hybrid cars. Small
vehicles can have very good fuel economy during highway
driving, but in city driving, a very fuel efficient
economy car achieves about 25 mpg. The average small car
probably achieves only about 20 mpg.
That's not great fuel economy. In fact, I don't even call
that good fuel economy. It's only good relative to the
horrible city fuel economy most US vehicles achieve.
On the other hand, the Toyota
Prius averages 45 mpg, and many experienced Prius
drivers can average more than 50, or even 60 mpg, in the
very worst city driving conditions.
So, a 50 percent savings in fuel economy isn't worthy?
Sure, but it's not profitable, right?
Just like all new technologies, even the Prius was
horribly unprofitable for several years. Today, however,
manufacturing experience and economies of scale have
turned the Prius into a profitable vehicle. The next
generation Prius, according to some analysts, will be very
profitable.
Still, yes, big hybrids do make sense, for those whom
actually use their full functionality regularly.
Unfortunately, many, maybe even most, don't utilize their
large SUV's functionality. They just like large SUVs.
Hybrid technology cannot save the world from this kind of
inefficiency.
And for city driving, especially commuting, nothing to
date makes more sense than small hybrid vehicles - at
least not until small EVs and plug-in hybrids become
cost-effective, unless 8 of you are carpooling.
How many big SUV owners do that?
posted by Dahcredyns at
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