Anyone drive a hybrid?

[nadoom]

No, but it could be construed as driving a hybrid in some pastoral society

They still emit green house gases though.

My question is this...

It takes energy to charge these fuel cells, which means a power station somewhere has to burn something, so do these hybrids really impact the cost to the environment?

If they can stick one of these hybrid engines into a Mitsubishi L200 ill be happy!

[Karlos]

That's the rub. Any rechargeable system that ultimately requires recharging from a mains supply will result in increased load on electricity supplies and subsequent increases in emissions from there. However, not all electricty is provided by burning fossil fuels and it's a lot easier to establish 'greener' sources at that level and making greater use of electricity than it is designing 'greener' consumers of energy.

Note that hybrids tend to be based on the idea of converting surplus engine power into electrical charge that you can reuse later, as well as reclaiming kinetic energy during breaking or downhill driving etc. They essentially give you better overall conversion of your fuel by storing the surplus energy as electrical charge that would otherwise be wasted.

[GadgetMaster]

CannonFodder wrote:
A friend of mine just bought a Toyota Prius and it averages around 50MPG . Very economical.

I was wondering if anyone else has any experience of them?

This review is for a newer model than his but the concept is the same for both

Puts hand up in the air. :banana:

I have an old (2002) model that still averages around 55MPG on the motorway (Highway) and around 48MPG around town. The motor assisted 1.5cc petrol Engine does between 450 and 500 miles from a single fill up of unleaded (currently costing me £35) was something of an eye opener for me at first.

BTW, the battery does not need to be plugged in to charge, it uses kinetic energy for continuous charging and has a regenerative braking system that also keeps it topped up.

Additional savings I have made are the exemption from the £8 per day London Congestion charge and the lowest Road tax ever (only £30 Per Annum). The extremely low emissions put it in a class of its own.

I would recommend a Test Drive to anyone. (Nope I don’t work for Toyota  :-P )

Hybrid cars, Its the future of motoring.... I've seen it!  :-D

[GadgetMaster]

Tigger wrote:

Gas has to reach at least $7.50 a gallon, to be cost effective through the battery change in 4 years, which is the big issue at the moment.   I actually like the Honda better, we designed (and now manufacture at a different plant) the electric car chargers, one of the guys at work has his honda hybrid running off of batteries pretty much only so he gases up every couple of months and just plugs the car to the charger at night.  Once the battery replacement issue is solved, I'll be interested in one, but till then the cost of driving one for 4 years and two months is a little two expensive.
   -Tig

I don't know where you got that silly idea from. What battery replacement issue :-? You must have been reading the FUD from the Anti-hybrid brigade.

The HSD components (Electric Motor & Battery) are under warranty from Toyota for 8 years but are expected to last even longer.

AFAIK the Honda is a different kind of hybrid (but still quite good) as opposed to the Prius where the petrol (Gas) engine can be switched off completely when not needed and the car can
run on Electricity only . Unless you have modified  the car the decision is made by the onboard computer for the best efficiency.

I suggest reading up on How it works

Battery technology has evolved now and both the charge capacity and logevity has increased so it won't be long before most auto manufacturers will be using them.

Hmm.... if only I could afford a  Tesla :-D

[GadgetMaster]

Karlos wrote:
Talk about synchronicity, I recently had a lift in the exact same model. It was spookily quiet when the engine was not in use. Even empty milk floats make noise :-D

It does freak people out when they see it reverse up my driveway completely siliently. A friend of mine walked over and said "There was something wrong with what I've just seen but I just can't place my finger on it" :lol:

If I wasn't such a considerate person I would use it to sneak up on people and thn blast the horn to give them a real shock  :shocked:  :-o  

;-)

[GadgetMaster]

nadoom wrote:
Do you own one? a mule that is

You mean not everybody has one in your area like we do here in Manchester  :-?  

btw it is stricly used as a form of transport here I must point out. Not for recreational purposes like in some parts of the world :-P

[GadgetMaster]

cecilia wrote:

Karlos wrote:
Talk about synchronicity, I recently had a lift in the exact same model. It was spookily quiet when the engine was not in use. Even empty milk floats make noise :-D

yes, i had the same spookie feeling when I drove somebodies electric car. feels like a "normal" car but makes NO noise. ooOOOooOoooOooOOo weird!

It took me a while to get used to it myself.  Now if I drive any other car I am annoyed by the noise and by the fact that the engine keeps running when stopped at lights.

Hybrids spoil you  :-D

[GadgetMaster]

nadoom wrote:

No, but it could be construed as driving a hybrid in some pastoral society

They still emit green house gases though.

My question is this...

It takes energy to charge these fuel cells, which means a power station somewhere has to burn something, so do these hybrids really impact the cost to the environment?

If they can stick one of these hybrid engines into a Mitsubishi L200 ill be happy!

The standard Prius does not need plugging in. As Karl pointed out it conserves energy that would otherwise be wasted and keeps the battery topped up.

There have been people who have modded their cars to plug them in overnight but currently such a conversion is expensive. Over 100MPG has been made possible in this way though  :-o .

See Here

and HERE

[nadoom]

The standard Prius does not need plugging in. As Karl pointed out it conserves energy that would otherwise be wasted and keeps the battery topped up.

There have been people who have modded their cars to plug them in overnight but currently such a conversion is expensive. Over 100MPG has been made possible in this way though .

See Here

and HERE

Woah, ok im sold. I want one. But i would feel like a put of a dork if i bought a prius (sorry prius owners :-P  ), cant the put the technology in something with a little more... va va voom? ( i dont mean a renault clio )

[Karlos]

nadoom wrote:

Woah, ok im sold. I want one. But i would feel like a put of a dork if i bought a prius (sorry prius owners :-P  ), cant the put the technology in something with a little more... va va voom? ( i dont mean a renault clio )

Pride is the fuel of the fire, akhi ;-)

[GadgetMaster]

nadoom wrote:

Woah, ok im sold. I want one. But i would feel like a put of a dork if i bought a prius (sorry prius owners :-P  ), cant the put the technology in something with a little more... va va voom? ( i dont mean a renault clio )

In that case you will have to choose a Plug-in:

http://www.teslamotors.com/

Assembled in the UK btw

Components and subsystems for the car come from a variety of sources all over the world. Final assembly for the Tesla Roadster is in the UK.

[Karlos]

A pure plug in might make you feel more smug about emissions on the road, but at the end of the day, more carbon is being emitted by the power station. Quite what it does to your electricity bill at the moment is another issue. Energy prices are going up and up at the moment.

I think hybrids are the sensible middle ground for the present time. Fully electric cars require that we solve our energy production problems first.

[recidivist]

 The key is total system efficiency,which many fail to note.
 
 Consideration needs to be given to manufacturing costs,fuel origin and delivery,emissions,disposal costs.

 Too many do forget the power plants when speaking of pure electrics.

  Currently gasoline or diesel have the highest enery density of any fuel we know how to routinely handle,so economically converting that to our travel is the sensible course.

  People demands on a car are higher than in the past,look at how basic the VW bug was;now it is rare that a car be sold without an entertainment package,air conditioning,etc.Plus mandated air bags and literally dozens of computers which can fail silently leaving you(it did me) in the middle of the road!

 A Prius wouldn't serve my needs well;something like a hybrid Isuzu Trooper would though!

 Perhaps 15 years ago one of the popular mechanical magazines featured a new electric motor that envisioned using one motor mounted to each of a car's four wheels therby giving 4WD,regenerative braking,lowering the car's  center of gravity,inproving overall weight distribution and perhaps other pluses.
  Haven't seen such a car yet;I suspect the government regulations actually hamper new transportation development.

[GadgetMaster]

recidivist wrote:

Perhaps 15 years ago one of the popular mechanical magazines featured a new electric motor that envisioned using one motor mounted to each of a car's four wheels therby giving 4WD,regenerative braking,lowering the car's  center of gravity,inproving overall weight distribution and perhaps other pluses.
  Haven't seen such a car yet;I suspect the government regulations actually hamper new transportation development.

Like This Mini ?

Or This Mitsubishi ?

[GadgetMaster]

Double post ..duh!

[GadgetMaster]

Fats wrote:
I just bought a Honda Civic Hybrid here in Belgium, I will need to wait till December for delivery though. It included 8 years of guarantee on the battery and the electric circuit. So if it has to be replaced after 4 years it will cost Honda money.

Staf.

Keep us updated on your purchase then. I am interested to read a real world "review" of Honda's version of the technology.  :-)