It’s a hot summer day and your friends, clad in beach attire, wait impatiently in the car as you fill up with gas. As you watch the display roll past 10, 20 and then 30 dollars you chuckle to yourself, pondering how great it would be if the university gave out scholarships during the summer for trips to the beach. Until the university determines that swimming and laying in the sun have substantial academic benefit, students and all who tire from watching their gas tanks devour their paychecks may want to consider the hybrid alternative.
Photo Credit: Franz Stadtmueller
A hybrid can be any vehicle that combines two power sources, but today’s consumer hybrid vehicles are primarily gasoline-electric. These hybrid cars typically achieve 30 miles per gallon (mpg) to 40 mpg on the highway, far better than the 20 mpg to 30 mpg rating for most conventional vehicles. Because hybrid vehicles use less gasoline, they are far more environmentally friendly than conventional cars. Gasoline combustion produces carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Because hybrids are easy on the environment, purchasing one will also line your pockets with a little more green come early April.
“What few people will tell you is they get a pretty generous tax credit for purchasing a hybrid,” Nick Rudolph, of Stark Chevrolet in Stoughton, says.
Conventional cars must be designed with larger engines capable of creating the necessary horsepower and torque for situations such as highway merging, when considerable acceleration is necessary. Heavy, large-displacement engines and cylinders require a great deal of energy to operate. These heavy components drive down gas mileage, and since typical highway driving requires only a fraction of the engine’s total horsepower capacity, its full power capabilities are used only when passing other vehicles or peeling out of beachside parking lots. Hybrid vehicles, on the other hand, can be designed with smaller and more efficient engines. When the car requires an additional boost during acceleration, a battery- powered electric motor kicks in.
Hybrid cars differ from their strictly electric counterparts because they generate their own electricity and never need to be charged with an outside power source. Hybrids use regenerative braking, which converts the heat from friction in the brakes into electrical energy that charges the hybrid’s batteries.
Gasoline engines are efficient at high speeds, so hybrids favor their gas engines when cruising on the highway. However, during city driving the hybrid primarily uses its electric motor.
Gasoline-electric hybrids combine a gasoline engine that operates part of the time with a battery-powered electric motor.
Photo Credit: Franz StadtmuellerThese technological advancements come at a price, though.
“Toyota hybrids typically cost $3,000 to $4,000 more than the equivalent conventional model—most will recoup this money in five years. If you drive a lot in the city you will get [your money] back in half that time,” Jeff Seamans, of John Lancaster Toyota, says.
Another hidden expense associated with hybrid vehicles is the possibility of high maintenance costs down the road. Hybrid vehicles have not been on the market very long, making it difficult to predict the cost of future repairs such as battery replacement.
“What are these hybrids going to cost to maintain five years from now?” Rudolph says.
Toyota, General Motors, Daimler Chrysler, Hyundai, Ford and Audi will all be releasing new hybrid models in 2008.
Toyota's Prius is the best-selling hybrid vehicle in the United States. This model is rated at 60 mpg city and 51 mpg highway.
Photo Credit: Franz StadtmuellerToyota plans to release its third generation hybrid Prius. The current model is the most fuel efficient hybrid on the market, earning an Environmental Protection Agency estimate of 60 mpg on the highway. The new design includes lighter lithium-ion batteries and a new Synergy Drive powertrain system that will be both half the weight and cost of the current Prius. Toyota’s line of hybrids also includes the Camry and Highlander; Seamans expects continued expansion and improvement in the future.
General Motors continues to implement hybrid technology into its high volume, high fuel consumption vehicles. General Motors, Daimler Chrysler and BMW have teamed up to develop a two-mode hybrid system. This system uses two electric motors and a dual-mode transmission. In other words, the vehicle has both city and highway modes. Each mode uses the electric motor and gas engine differently to provide optimal gas mileage.
“These vehicles employ active fuel management; they can shut off four of the eight cylinders to improve gas mileage,” Rudolph says.
With this two-mode system, consumers can expect an increase in fuel economy—maybe even as high as 25 percent. This hybrid system will be used in the 2008 Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon and is also expected to be available in the Cadillac Escalade, Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra models.
“[In the future,] I think you will see diesel hybrids being brought in. [Diesels] use a smaller motor and still get the same horsepower and torque,” Rudolph says.
The next time you find yourself lost at a car dealership, it may be helpful to think back to those hot summer days at the gas station. Shouldn’t you be spending your money at the final destination, not getting there?