2012 is looking to be a very interesting year. With the Volt, LEAF, Prius PHEV, Ford Focus EV and others (iMiEV?) ...... AND gas selling at $4 per gallon! The only question remains is the performance of EVs during the winter months in the Great White North?
The success of the Fit hybrid will depend on how Honda prices it. It will be successful if they can price it at or below the Insight. Right now the Insight at $18.5K offers the best value in a hybrid. The Prius is not far behind in the low 20s, and is a slightly bigger and better hybrid. But the bigger the hybrid market, the more price will be a determining factor.
Found out yesterday on Wiki that Leaf is priced well over $40k USD in Japan, Euro, everywhere else but here. Nissan wants to push Leaf in US the most, according to Wiki.
It's not a Hybrid. It's a full EV. Honda produces a Hybrid Fit, but IMO unfortunately decided to not bring it to the US. I think it's sold exclusively in Japan.
I hate to say this, but I'm not going to be an early adopter of a Honda EV. Their track record with the electric part of hybrids is not to my satisfaction. Too bad, really, because I think the Fit is a brilliant car in its standard ICE configuration and I think highly of Honda.
The EV won't be a serial hybrid that's for sure. I'm not a fan of IMA. They are working on a 'two motor' (full) plug-in hybrid, but they only show a concept platform at this point. Hopefully their EV works well. I do know that Leaf suffered what seems to be a software problem in the last week. Several new owner's cars went dead. Looks like they needed to patch them with earlier software. Don't know all details, but read much about in on Leaf forum.
I agree that the following years are going to be very interesting as far new cars coming out, EV's & Hybrids. I also tend to agree with PriuSport that for the Honda Fit EV to be successful that it needs to have a base price like the current Insight II and if so, sales will take off. They the car makers could do a lot better and by this I mean that they could add an additional motor and use it as a generator (either in the front or the rear axle of the car) & supply current to the electric motor that propels the car. Thus that would throw out the so called range anxiety. This is by far a much better solution than like for example the Volt. Having to carry around the dead weight of an engine + a 9.3 gas tank (9.3 premium fuel @gal x 6lbs=55.8lbs). Which if you don't go on a long trip, one would not need. Yet if you don't use it then you are just carrying around dead weight & if you eliminate this they can certainly lower that 42K price tag. I would however probably keep the Plug In capability as a backup, & then the batt. would only be used when at a full stop. This is what I would call, a good business plan. Any comments?
There are many alternative systems in the works and running. ev,hydrogen, natural gas,several fuel cells including purified water but our government will not allow those vehicles to be mass produced and sold until a fuel infastructure is completed. Lots of money to be made but who will step foreward and bear the cost and what fuel will be the one. It is like vhs vs beta high def vs blue ray etc but on a win loss scale never dreamed of with catastrophic monitary loss very likely.
Let's not start ridiculous conspiracy theories here, the government may be stupid as a group, but they are not plotting to stall new technologies. If anything the current administration is promoting them by raising the cost of carbon-based fuels. Most of the technologies you mention each have current (or forever) shortcomings that limit their acceptance: EV - Practical for short trip usage, but battery cost using Lithium Ion is high for now and we can't use the proven Panasonic large format NiMh until the patents run out in 2014. Hydrogen/Fuel cells - Will NEVER be practical for several reasons Expensive catalyst that is easily poisoned in use Inefficient use of energy sources to create the hydrogen. Natural Gas/Propane - Can be used now with available kits for many cars. Honda sells a Civic that is configured for compressed natural gas today. My wife drove a fleet car in the early 1990's that was configured to run on either gasoline or propane. Purified water ?????? JeffD
I also agree that the Hydrogen/Fuel Cell for the consumers is not going to fly either. Maybe for a large fleet where they have their own mfg of hydrogen, like Honda has in California but not for the regular consumer. I don't think so, because first of all of the large infrastructure that needs to be in place to make it happen and you also put yourself back in the hands of those who control that type of energy source which is big OIL. Today in the news was that the price of oil fell to just cents under one hundred dollars/barrel. So probably the price of gas for next month (June) will be cheaper then the $4/gal today. I'm waiting to see when the Honda Fit EV comes out next year & one of the things that I like about it is that the Fit EV will be using the same electric motor now used on the Fcx Clarity which is of the axial type (i.e. a drive shaft at each end). This makes it ideal to be used either in the under the hood or in the rear axle area of the car. Btw, Volvo is working on a 4 motor (one for each wheel), with a battery and a separate gen driven from a small diesel engine. My next car will definitely be an EV probably looking at 2012 or 2013. One thing that still needs more improvement though are the batteries. So gentlemen let's all think positive and maybe in a few years there will be another breakthrough in battery technology but I also hope it doesn't cost an arm and a leg!
I'd be interested in converting my *big* car to nat gas or propane (minivan). I wonder if this is possible or practical. A friend in Germany has a propane conversion in a smaller car, using the spare tire port as the tank location. Guess he's out of luck if he gets flat. But I tend to agree with the guy who said we as a country are not encouraging some of these options. Another friend in Europe had a CNG car. Believe they get favorable prices for these alternate fuels. At least I have the *impression* that we are not favoring these alternates as much as we could for consumers. We are doing pretty well on CNG fleets, no argument there.
