Did anyone see the Money program this week.
In short it was about the rise of and popularity of Hybrid cars.
The prius is very chic and popular with the gliteratti so sales are rising and Toyota is doing nicely thank you. In repsonse GM and Ford have said "me too" and are releasing hybrids.
That led on to SUV's wich are suddenly taking very bad press over there for being so eco unfriendly. So guesss what?
Yup the Explorer is now available with a hybrid power train. GM hot on the trail too.
So thats all right then.
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The problem with the Prius is that Toyota can't supply enough of them - it wasn't too bad untill it got the car of the year award but now it's gone crazy - i've run out of allocation for the whole year and we're only just into April!
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Look, the problem with hybrids is they are not economical or eco friendly, they are just trendy and Ken Deadbrick loves them.
The Toyota Priapism (the latter is a medical term) is just so ugly.
Small cars with extremely efficient internal combustion engines are the only way forward.
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The original Prius was a shocker but the new one looks a hell of a lot better.
The fuel economy is marginally better than an equivalent sized Corolla 2.0 D4D and about the same as the 1.4 D4D but cost a considerable amount more.
Also whilst it produces less emissions when being used, the majority of the damage done to the environment is done whilst the car is being manufactured and with all the extra electronics and the batteries it's overall emissions during it's life will probably be higher than a normal car.
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They're just political monuments like wind-turbines.
Get the bigger picture, not just a selection of tailpipe emmission figures!
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Talking of Kenny Deadbrick, I saw my first hybrid bus this morning whilst sauntering across Tower Bridger at 0740. Billowing clouds of steam coming from the vent at the rear kind of gave it away.
Made me wonder if some of the extra £40m revenue and £50m saved (allegedly) when the CC goes up to £8 this summer may get invested into more Hybrid transport? I'd willingly see every bendy bus in the capital replaced by hybrids (just as long as they keep a few routemasters to remind people what buses are all about).
Having an all but car-free time at the moment. 3 miles to and from the station, 100 miles each way on the shunter, couple of stops on the tube and a 20 minute brisk walk from London Bridge along to tower bridge and across into the city each day. Could tube it to within 3 minutes of the office, but the walk along the Thames is a rather nice way to start the day.
If Red Ken fails to push the extra dough from the CC into low emission transport it will be a crying shame. You only need to look at the Jubilee line, however, to see what's likely to happen to the money.
::sigh::
ND
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>>Look, the problem with hybrids is they are not economical or eco friendly, they are just trendy and Ken Deadbrick loves them.
According to all the info I've seen about the Prius it is much more economical than a similar size and weight petrol car with a conventional gearbox (60 mpg as opposed to 40). The hybrid electric drive system with its regenerative braking is an economy breakthrough.
Now........combine such hybrid technology with an efficient diesel engine....80 mpg? If someone came up with a nice looking diesel/electric hybrid taxi suitable for London those ugly TX1's would be gone in no time!
Cheers, Sofa Spud
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Yes, but 95% of this country's energy consumption is by industry, and that's with hardly any industry left!
So when you drive your little Prius and save a poxy few gallons of fuel, remember all of the global mining, smelting, effluent, casting, extrusion, chemical engineering, moulding, distribution etc... in all sorts of countries and all of the energy that was used just to put these semi-redundant technologies and components on the Prius.
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>>semi-redundant technologies and components on the Prius.
All that is semi redundant about the Prius is that it was designed to appeal to Americans who want more economical cars but wouldn't consider diesels. Again, as I've just said, if you combine the hybrid drive with a diesel engine, you'd get real economy.
Cheers, SS
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>>They're just political monuments like wind-turbines.
Get the bigger picture, not just a selection of tailpipe emmission figures!
In the same way as nuclear power stations, the M25, the Thames Barrier, the Channel Tunnel, Concorde, the National grid, you mean?
Renewable energy is now becoming mainstream and the impetus for expansion is coming largely from the renewables industry itself.
The current preoccupation with global warming overshadows the inevitable decline in oil reserves facing us.
Cheers, SS
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According to all the info I've seen about the Prius it is much more economical than a similar size and weight petrol car with a conventional gearbox (60 mpg as opposed to 40). The hybrid electric drive system with its regenerative braking is an economy breakthrough.
I've found in actual driving your more likely to get about 55mpg from the prius, a corolla 2.0 D4D can easily get 50mpg and the 1.4 D4D is around 60mpg. Difference in price is approx £5k - so financial it doesn't make sense.
Now........combine such hybrid technology with an efficient >> diesel engine....80 mpg?
Toyota have looked into this and decide it's a no no.
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>>Toyota have looked into this and decide it's a no no.
At the moment - expensive drive system plus expensive engine?
Until recently not many cars were available as automatic diesels, presumably for the same reason.
Other manufacturers have been looking at diesel/electric hybrids (can't remember who) - I did quite a bit of searching the net on just this subject
Cheers, SS
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Just looked up diesel hybrid agan and found pages on 2005 Opel Astra concept diesel hybrid. Claims 25% improvement in economy.
Cheers, SS
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At the moment - expensive drive system plus expensive engine?
Got a feeling that as the car is predominantly aimed at the US market a diesel would not be viable purely for the European market
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Suspect you're right, savvy political move by Toyota.
However whilst the Prius is a fair compromise it's more interim technology than redundant.
Until such time as commercially viable hydrogen fuelled systems come in just about all engine technology is interim.
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Until such time as commercially viable hydrogen fuelled systems come in just about all engine technology is interim.
Hydrogen is not a panacea. It has to be extracted from something else (often coal or natural gas) and this itself uses energy and produces pollution.
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