On true hybrids

On true hybrids

15 Aug 2005

Got questions about the environment? Ask Umbra.

Dear Umbra,

I read the New York Times article that reported auto manufacturers are using hybrid technology to boost power rather than improve mileage. It specifically mentioned the Honda Accord, claiming that the mileage difference between the six-cylinder and the hybrid is minimal. What are the facts here? Is there a hybrid that really, actually, no-foolin'-around, gives really good mileage, represents a significant improvement over the regular version, is reasonably safe, and still drives well enough that one may venture onto the interstate without undue fear?

Jim
Kalamazoo, Mich.

Ask Umbra continues below

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Dearest Jim,

I'm glad you wrote. That article stirred some people up, but the answer to your question is yes: true hybrids still exist.

No guts, no glory.

Photo: Wieck Media.

As you'll recall from the article, the hybrid's electric motor gives it greater power. The apparent trouble with the pseudo-hybrids, as I call them, is that some models are using the technology for acceleration and not for the rest of the true-hybrid functions. What makes a true hybrid? A hybrid car has a large-capacity battery and a large-capacity electric motor. The electric motor runs the car at idle, picks up kinetic energy off the brakes and stores it in the battery, provides power assistance to the engine, and sometimes just plain old moves the car forward all by its lonesome. When the electric motor does all of these things, and not just one or two, the car is a true hybrid.

I've just experienced such a vehicle, in fact. You've heard of Boston Drivers, I assume? I was driving amidst them, in a Toyota Prius that belongs to one of them. It gets really good mileage -- I drove 70 miles with no change in the gas gauge. It is also coated with air bags, covered with high-tech readouts, and has no "regular" version. Excellent handling is a prerequisite for survival in that city, and the Prius delivered.

But why listen to me when you can luxuriate in the Union of Concerned Scientists' Hybrid Center? (Yes, I am obsessed with UCS, is that so bad? Beats my obsession with becoming Jude Law's next nanny.) You are going to love it: you'll find reviews, a buyer's guide, a blog, and -- mwah! -- a searchable vehicle-science database. You can learn how a hybrid works, fill out surveys to see which type might best fit your lifestyle, and meet a few proud owners. Spend hours on the computer, in short. If you use this resource, you will avoid ersatz hybrids and confidently make your eco-consumer mark.

By the way, when you drive your true hybrid, please be extra careful around bicyclists. The electric motor is eerily silent, and we cannot hear it coming.

Mutantly,
Umbra

Yours is to wonder why, hers is to answer (or try). Please send Umbra any nagging question pertaining to the environment -- but first check out her FAQs!

The claims made in this column may not reflect the views of this magazine. Neither the magazine nor the author guarantees that any advice contained in this column is wise or safe. Please use this column at your own risk.

Umbra Fisk is Grist Research Associate II, Hardcover and Periodicals Unit, floors 2B-4B.

Comments: (4 comments)

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What about battery lifetime & recycling?

I've heard that the batteries of the type used on hybrid vehicles are very short-lived and hard to recycle.
Does anyone know if it's true or not?

by Xizzy at 2:39 PM on 15 Aug 2005

Hybrids

Has anyone any info on the EMF in hybrids and how damaging they are to us humans

by wilsoncoffee at 5:43 PM on 15 Aug 2005

Hybrids

Surely rather than encouraging people to invest their energy in the manufacture of a hybrid, which in the end still uses fossil fuels. Shouldn't we actually be encouraging them to convert an old car to bio-deisel or bio-ethanol. That way we save the energy from manufacture which is sizeable and we have a vehicle with zero emissions. I know Hybrids are designed to coax gas guzzlers away from their adoration og petrol - but we don't really have time to pussy foot around with half-measures. Unless all of the developed world moves to hybrids tomorrow the overall impact isn't sufficient.

We have to drop emissions 3% / year for the next 20 years. That means, less miles, more cycling, massive reduction in these expensive types of manufacturing and everyone converting to renewale energy.

Hybrids are like unleaded petrol - anyone who isn't that environmentally conscious will buy them thinking that, now they've done their bit, they can go back to flying thousands of miles for their vacation, leaving their lights on, driving huge distances and buying food that has been air freighted from all over the world.

We have to take the quick wins now : Sign up for a green electricity tarrif, switch to electric, bio-ehtanol or bio-deisel cars, eat local.

by magicbus at 2:39 AM on 16 Aug 2005

environmental hybrid cars

What we need are simple, light, low-horsepower, regenerative brakes, efficient shell, easy maintenance, minimalist vehicles. I suspect they'll use electricity for the final drive, and optimally the motor/generators will be built into the wheel assemblies instead of using weighty axles and transmissions. The power sources could be anything ranging from batteries, flywheels, and bicycle cranks to fuel cells or gas or diesel engines with generators. Make them interchangeable units with open-code computer control system, and people will hack their way to sustainable transit.

For comparison purposes, a trained athlete can put out maybe 1/2 hp on his bicycle- that's all we're really entitled to, so even an old VW bug or Model T Ford is a great luxury of power and should be viewed as such, while 200+ hp luxury sedans are obscene luxuries. The planet cannot afford obscene luxuries at this time. Sorry.

Sustainable, guilt-free long-distance rapid transit could be windmill-driven electric rail. (For a sensible national model, see Switzerland.) Unfortunately the new transportation bill seems to doom us to the same old mess.

Stephen Brown (Sharon, PA)

by pianoyoga at 8:36 AM on 17 Aug 2005

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