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Thursday, July
8, 2005
The
importance of hybrid technology
Yesterday,
President Bush told reporters covering the G8 that the
U.S. seeks to utilize technology to help fight not only
global warming, but foreign oil dependency as well.
Environmentalists were not impressed. Nonetheless, many
environmentalists act like both radical Republicans and
Democrats - it's either their extreme view or the highway.
While I would like America, and the world, to suddenly
embrace conservation - it just isn't going to happen. The
history of the world has been advanced by technological
innovation. End of story.
Bush and Detroit have habitually pointed to the 'hydrogen
economy' as the ultimate answer. Today's terrorist
activities and the current escalating oil crisis
demonstrate that the world cannot wait 2 or 3 more decades
before achieving a solution.
Hybrid
cars, especially the Toyota
Prius, prove that the U.S. doesn't have to wait for
the hydrogen economy. If everyone drove a Prius, it would
drastically change America's foreign oil dependency, as
well as pollution emissions.
Nonetheless, just as with conservation, the Prius is not
the answer, but hybrid technology does provide a solid
solution. It has become quite clear that Americans not
only want choice, but they want power and size. The Prius,
unfortunately, does not address those preferences.
Still, as Prius hybrid technology has been added to
vehicles such as the Lexus
RX400h, the Toyota
Highlander hybrid, and the Ford
Escape hybrid, the potential of hybrid technology
begins to emerge.
It's still not enough many critics will argue, and they
are right. Fortunately, that is the beauty of hybrid
technology. The advances made in hybrid technology from
the first generation Prius to the second generation Prius,
for example, were simply fantastic. Like the technology
behind notebook computers, hybrid vehicles could easily
double, triple, even quadruple - not only their fuel
efficiency, but their performance - in just the next
several years.
This doesn't require a completely new energy
infrastructure, nor does it require somehow making
$1,000,000 fuel cell vehicles more cost effective.
And it isn't just Toyota. Honda will be releasing an
updated hybrid powertrain in both its Civic
hybrid and Accord
hybrid that could truly challenge the Prius. As other
manufacturers begin offering their proprietary hybrid
technology, gains could be exponentially made.
The time for talking about the technology of the future is
no longer acceptable. American consumers must demand that
automakers either act today, or perish tomorrow, and
hybrid technology is the first step.
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