Ugh! Where do you start with this issue? The whole thing stinks. Jeff does an excellent job outlining the national economic and political pitfalls of this issue and those commenting are focusing on the pros and cons of the techology itself. But I have a couple of simple practical questions that I’d like to pose to current Hybrid owners and to Environmentalists.
(1) To the environmentalists and the Hybrid owners who want more mpg:
How and why do you think that a car with multiple engines is efficient?
I assume that the goal here is to find a simple, easily implemented, cheap and relatively clean solution to high petrol prices and pollution.
Surely the answer is to install a propane auxiliary tank to your existing car engine and run your car on a cheaper fuel. Most of the Midwest and California is flat and you don’t need 350 hp to make a sub-compact (or even a truck) to do the speed limit on the freeway. Propane is fairly plentiful and cheap in the US and it burns cleaner than diesel and gasoline. Moreover, the technology is available now and has been since the 80s.
Seriously, you folks who love hybrids and progressives must see that this technology isn’t a solution to an environmental or an economic or even a practical problem. It is a solution to a political one that has been perpetuated by Republicans and Democrats. And that problem is that Americans (individuals and companies) aren’t free to find the best solutions to our problems.
I mean if you want a non-fossil fueled car with a power to weight and range to payload ratios better than petrol engine, why aren’t you developing an engine that runs on a non-fossil based, energy dense fuel? Hydrogen anyone? If you were a car company freely able to develop in any direction you wanted, wouldn’t that be where you would sink your billions?
Or is it now a case that punitive taxes and regulations (levied by Republ-ocrats) are making it impossible and unprofitable for businesses to plan long-term?
(2) To the Environmentalists:
If you really want a green car, why in the hell are you supporting the use of batteries that are filled with heavy metals that (a) need to be dug out of the ground (b) need to be refined and (c) need to be disposed of safely once you are done with them? To say nothing of the coal that is used by the power-plants your plug in will rely on.
(3) To the Environmentalists and the Hybrid owners:
Let us assume that you can (in good conscience) ignore the fact that a new car looses 50% or more of it’s value when you drive it off the lot.
What resale value are you expecting from your electric/hybrid when at around 100,000 miles you are obligated to overhaul the batteries at a price approaching the resale value of the car? I suppose that if the movement takes off, the replacement batteries may come down in cost, but they still won’t be free (Hey Mister, can I have more cadmium & mercury please?) and you still have an internal combustion engine that needs timing belts, head gaskets, water pumps, alternators and all the other fun things that break on standard second hand cars.
Remember, a Prius has the same horse-power as a Kia Rio but is a hell of a lot heavier. Without a new battery pack, your second-hand Prius isn’t going to out-last a Rio in an endurance race and a second hand 2003 Rio is worth about $2000 to $3000 with 150,000 miles on the clock.
So what you might ask. Well two points: (1) a new Rio is about $10,000 so you can expect to recover maybe 10-20% of it’s value when you sell it. Tell me again how much your second hand Prius or Volt will net you on the second hand market?
(2) If you really do believe in Green values, you should be supporting anything that can extend the life-span of durable goods rather than shorten it. Because even when you recycle, you still use energy and produce pollution.
And given the answers to the questions above, tell me again what a good idea it was/is to subsidize hybrids with tax-payer money either as direct ownership of car companies or Cash for Clunkers deals or R&D prizes.
