Newsweek: Hybrids are Obsolete

Articles like this disturb me b/c it seems they just see hybrids as some sort of "anti-car". Plug in hybrids are not the answer, it simply means coal powerplants etc will be used more.

We should have as many options as possible and until the solar car comes or the hydrogen powered car is truly viable, hybrids are the way.

TO THIS DAY most don't even know how they work. I would say 8 out of 10 people I talk to ask me "so you plug it in at home" lol

 

Unlike the article, I include hybrids as gas cars in my prediction that by 2020 there will be few new ones on the market.... and the only thing the article was supposed to demonstrate is that some law makers are already bringing up the idea of banning gas gars.

Instead of gas cars being sold it will be EVs. How can this happen so quickly? Easy....

Once word get's out to the masses that you can drive for 2 cents a mile instead of 12-20 cents and the cost of maintenance is minimal and that installing a complete EV infrastructure for the entire USA would only cost a fraction of one year's worth of oil imports.... there will be a massive sea change and the ICE will be dead. Nevermind, peak oil, cap and trade and Better Place. And then there is EEStor - not necessary but if real, 2020 would be a slam dunk.

 

Concerning Norway
According to these articles, Norway has used a fleet of 12 black RX 400hs to ferry Norwegian royalty, Bill Clinton, Hans Blix, and others for events in the northern city of Tromsø in recent years. For a recent climate change conference in the same city, there was a dispute in that the RX 400h fleet was available, but the Foreign Ministry opted to ferry its other limousines to the site, apparently because of an exclusive contract.


RX 400hs used for official transport; Hans Blix disembarking.

Translated version of http://www.siste.no/klima/article4277862.ece

Translated version of http://www.nettavisen.no/innenriks/article2610158.ece

Original Norwegian links:
UD vraket miljøbiler - siste.no
IVAR KRISTIANSEN - - Galskap satt i system - Nettavisen

 

Did you know that Newsweek (and other print magazines) are obsolete? Newspapers too. I bet my car lasts longer than the print version of Newsweek. :madgrin:

 

Oh yeah- I can always trust the media to get it right. Swine flu is going to kill millions of us- right.

 

They have it right. We are all going to die - eventually.

Tom

 

Don't look now Newsweek, but your FASTLY becoming Obsolete!!!

 

I agree that EV's are the future of the personal automobile but your timeframe is WAY to rosy. No major car manufacture has plans to produce a EV before 2010-11 and even these are in very low numbers. Mitsubishi / Peugeot combined are looking to sell 30,000 i-MiEV's and they are projecting a cost of $30,000 for a microcar. Even if electricity was free a gas car of similar size would be less expensive to operate. It will take rapidly increasing gasoline prices combined with large economy of scale for EV's to make them cost competitive and this will take time. It has taken 10 years for hybrids to go from 0 to 2.5% of new car sales in the US.

I personally don't expect EV's to become mainstream until 2025 - 2030. (By mainstream I'm talking ~20% of the market)

It is far better for the US to use plug-in hybrids powered by coal powerplants than gasoline. Studies show that an EV powered by electricity from a coal-fired powerplant is still cleaner than a gasoline car. That powerplant will also get cleaner as it ages while the car will pollute more with age. Add in the fact that our coal powerplants are powered by fuel mined in the US compared to imported oil and you have a win-win for the US. I would love to drive a coal powered vehicle.

 

Newsweek is full of baloney. ICE cars are obsolete. Hybrids may be transition technology--but not back to ICE cars, as the article implies--but to wholly electric cars, or some other technology like hydrogen that isn't carbon-based.

Remember, the media depends on advertising-- including car advertising--and is largely status quo. It's about money.

 

GOOD GOD!

Hybrids = obsolete? My comment. ok, maybe, 9 year old technology that was considered ground-breaking and very innovative.

ICE - Gas combustion engines = COMPLETELY ANTIQUATED! Get them off the road! They're already 1,000's of years old (sarcastic to the bone)!!!

So let the comments and points spoken be perspective to what's obvious out there.

Hybrid technology is just a bridge to the future. My peeve is that asinine companies holding ridiculous patents PREVENT our technology from moving forward. STOP THIS NONSENSE. Incidentally, ELECTRIC motors will always outpull a gas engine in torque. it is what it is.

 

do a google search for the "Motorola M 800".... granted a specially designed phone for Park Rangers and other people who communicate in remote spots... and its not the kind you hang on your belt

 

Why can't my plug-in hybrid car be charged by solar energy or wind ?

 

no reason why they cant be... no reason at all or at least, no technical reason, or no logical reason, or no ecological reason, or no... ya...like i said, no reason at all other than the fact that the big money is in oil and their plans are most likely based on the fact that there is still plenty of money out there to be had and (at least they hope!!) the severe effects of GCC will not happen until after they are gone...

sad isnt it?? they want more money, more than they could possibly use in their lifetime, but what for?? their kids?? lets face it... money might do a little good where we are headed, but could you enjoy it when the other 99.8% of the world will be gone or destitute?? it would definitely take a certain type of personality to cope with that and i am glad i am not that kind of person

 

The hybrid will become obsolete eventually. The hybrid is like a new CD that carries 40 songs when what we desperately need is the latest ipod that carries 10,000 songs.

 

I thought about coal powered vehicles ... but after checking one out I realized it'd never fit im our driveway







(since we ARE speaking of obsolete) Anyway, at 6'-5" (standing by drive wheel) it gives you some scale of how big these babys are/were. but I digress

 

It can when those sources are available/producing, but they are still more expensive for now. But on calm wind nights, or those long stretches of calm wind overcast days (that many regions often experience) - you will be relying on a conventional power plant. Another idea waiting on better battery technology, but maybe some day.

And when wind and solar aren't producing, you'll either need full conventional capacity (so the infrastructure costs will be higher, ie cost of solar and wind equipment/transmission/storage PLUS full conventional sources when needed) or we'll all have to agree to brown/black outs. Believe it or not, I'm on your side, but the answers don't seem to come easy...

 

China’s Cars to Go (Mostly) Electric Within A Decade, Says Report

Google alerts just sent me this article. I don't agree with all the of the sentiments (fuel cells - hah!) but clearly by 2020 China expects eVs and PHEV's to rule. This is going to happen faster than most people realize.

 

Obsolete?

Nope.

Greenwashing spin about technology age is getting old. (pun intended)

My reply is to point out the next stage after rollout is not death as they attempt to convince you of. It's the point of being MATURE. In other words, ready for mainstream volume. Open the flood gates. Here comes the Prius large quantity. Nothing to prove anymore. The technology is ready for prime time.
.