CARazed

Finally a hybrid worth buying. The 2011 Toyota Prius will be a plug-in hybrid which will get you around town at normal speeds on electric power. When the batteries run low the gasoline motor will kick-in taking you where ever you need to go. It’s expected to get over 100 mpg.

So don’t waste your money on a new hybrid.  If you need an efficient car today don’t get saddled with payments; buy a simple used high efficiency car and wait for cars like this upcoming Prius.

Now this gal is definitely CARazed and yes that IS a good thing. She runs a blog called A Minor Journey which is all about electric vehicles. The car below is Velma, a plug-in hybrid Prius she modified. Be sure to bookmark her website and RSS feed.

I first saw this on Make.

First, don’t think for a second that it is our patriotic duty to consume and buy bad products just to prop up corporations that make bad decisions. It should be our patriotic duty to make good choices for ourselves, family, community, and environment. If we are individually strong our nation will be strong. Making poor choices doesn’t help anyone.

Second, don’t help support bad business decisions. Vote with your wallet. It looks like Toyota is thinking it can’t sell the plug-in hybrid Prius that it has in development. Help companies like Toyota make the best long term decision and choose not to buy a new car until you can plug it in.

Read more on AutoblogGreen.

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles still burn gas and are not the ideal long-term solution to peak-oil preparation but they will be an important piece of the transition. They run on electricity until the batteries run low and then the gas motor kicks to provide power. With today’s infrastructure they allow long distance travel at a lower cost and impact than most cars. For local use they cost pennies on the dollar to operate because it’s cheaper and greener to power a car with electricity.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell technology is just not ready for main stream implementation, confirmed yet again by this Wall Street Journal article. Both GM and Toyota executives are turning away from their focus on fuel cells and toward readily available technologies like full electric cars and plug-in hybrids… also called range extended electric cars.

Since the driving range of full electric cars are limited by how much electricity their batteries can store and today’s batteries take hours to charge, auto makers are turning to mounting a small gasoline generator on board what would otherwise be a fully electric car. The first 40 or so mile you drive is 100% on battery power and then the gas motor kicks in to generate electricity and power the car. Since electric motors are high in torque the driving performance is comparable to a normal car. At night you simply plug the car in to top off the batteries. The electricity in your home is a far cheaper source of power than the gas generator can create. The overall carbon footprint is lower too.

GM hopes to launch the Chevy Volt by 2010 that leverages this technology. Toyota is also making strides in advancing their current technology to include plug in charging and longer range running on batteries only. If you’re considering a green car you might want to buy used for now and wait a couple years to see if GM, Toyota and others bring real plug-in hybrids to market. They would surely beat the current hybrids in efficiency at a similar price.

This latest Toyota concept car is an engineering exercise in light weight materials and extreme green technology. It’s currently making its first American appearance at the 2008 Chicago Auto Show.

It’s powered by a 500cc flex-fuel plug-in hybrid system. The body is made from a green bio-plastic sourced from kenaf and ramie plants and carbon fiber. The entire car, albeit sans doors, weighs only 926 pounds. Everything about this car pushes green technology to the limit. It’s nice to see Toyota really pushing the green envelope and I’m certain these technologies are a sign of things to come. The only trouble might be the length of the wait. More

It seems the folks at tesla are thinking what many other are thinking, that plug-in hybrids are the way to go, at least for now. Now that production dates are set for their P1 Tesla Roadster, Tesla has announced that they are planning it’s next car, a sedan code named White Star.

They’ll offer an all electric version and a plug-in hybrid version. The advantage of course is that when your batteries run dry your car switches over and runs a small gas engine to keep you moving. Official news, facts and figures are not available yet. Most of what we know has been leaked through the Tesla blog, but it sounds like the sedan will cost about half as much as the P1 (so about $40K to $50K).

I’m not surprised that Tesla is moving toward hybrids because it just makes sense. Leverage the current gasoline infrastructure while moving toward all electric cars. Other companies like GM, Toyota, many X PRIXE contestants, and small independent auto makers are all moving in this direction. For example the Fisker Karma will be a plug-in hybrid that is expected to get around 100 miles per gallon. The White Star must be Tesla’s reaction to the Karma.

Co-op America is and CalCars are encouraging people to push auto makers to build plug-in hybrids and abandon the strong push for corn based bio-fuels. Most people find it hard to understand this position because it seems so counter intuitive. The same goes for declining support of hydrogen fuel cells which have the potential of water vapor exhaust.

All the technology ideas are good, the problem is time. The most viable technology today is plug-in hybrids. All electric cars, hydrogen fuel cell cars, bio-fuel cars are years away from wide spread consumer adoption for two simple reasons, infrastructure and technology.

To find a solution today we must accept our current infrastructure and technology options and see where they lead us. We have a gasoline infrastructure and decent but not great batteries. We have plugs in our homes and most of us don’t make long trips. Independent groups all over are proving that plug-in hybrid cars can get around 100 miles per gallon. If we all had a gas powered car that got 100 MPG with ultra low carbon emissions several things would happen:

1. We would need no imported fossil fuel. None. So there would be little need to invade anyone like Iraq for oil or Iran for natural gas.

2. Big oil company profits would drop to record lows because most people would drive on their batteries most of the time. These cars run on electricity for the first 40-ish miles so you’ll only pay for gas on long trips.
3. Even though 50% of our electricity comes from burning coal the carbon emissions end up being lower overall for electric cars than gasoline cars.

4. We’ve built a bridge to all electric cars. As soon as better inexpensive batteries are available we’ll buy newer plug-in hybrids that will run on electricity only for long trips.

I won’t speculate as to the real reasons big oil and auto makers have stayed away from plug-in hybrids.  The good news is that they are on the way. The small independent auto makers, backed by big silicon valley money, seem to have lit a fire. Toyota and GM have both released news that they plan to have plug-in hybrids on the road by 2010. The small start-ups will have cars out in 2008 and 2009.

If you are considering buying a new car in the next two years some say hold off. Wait and see what happens. If this movement to plug-in hybrids continues and 100 miles per gallon cars hit the market in two years the resale value on your current car may start to drop. It might be wise to not be married to a car payment if that happens. Comments?

In a recent article, on January 24, 2008, long time auto industry reporter Mark Phelan says,

“Bad Karma. Fisker Automotive says the sporty Karma will go on sale in 2009, cover 50 miles solely under electric power, recharge its batteries overnight, use a small engine to recharge on long drives and have a top speed “beyond 125 m.p.h.,” all for $80,000 apiece.

If anybody could do that, GM, Toyota and every other automaker on the planet would pay billions for the technology. I hate to pick on a guy with a dream, and Henrik Fisker’s design credentials are impeccable, but making promises like this without detailed technical support just encourages the conspiracy theorists who insist the auto industry is in league with Big Oil, terrorists, Satan or all of the above.”

I personally hope that all skeptics are proven wrong by the cars the independent start-ups put on the road. The truth is that no one will know how viable cars like the Fisker Karma will be until it has been on the road a while.

Statements like, “ If anybody could do that, GM, Toyota and every other automaker on the planet would pay billions for the technology.”, are as irrational as conspiracy theories because no one but auto industry senior executives know their product development strategies. For all we know auto makers see themselves in a symbiotic relationship with the oil industry and that it’s in the best interest of their company and shareholders to support each other.

In other words, it’s probably not a conspiracy but it might be a business plan. No really, literally a business plan. It’s not unbelievable that one company might want to see the long term viability of one of it’s strongest partners; and no one can argue that today’s cars and fossil fuel aren’t joined at the hip.

Maybe we’re watching the Battle of the Billionaires?

Money is the other thing at work he no one is talking about yet. The money that backs the independent auto makers is mostly coming from Silicon Valley billionaires, venture capitalists, philanthropist investors, and private equity groups. For the most part these people are not involved in the energy or main stream auto industry.

They seem to be capitalizing on the opportunity plug-in hybrids big auto missed by choosing the fuel cell route instead. I’ll leave it to the skeptics and conspiracy theorists to drone on as to why. I’m content to simply think that they have their reasons and it probably has to do with protecting their own business interests.

Luckily for us it looks like the competition the independent auto makers seem to be generating has been enough of a catalyst to move some major auto makers in plug-in hybrid direction. GM and Toyota are now moving in the direction of plug-in hybrids.

On January 23, 2008, the Chicago Tribune reports that,

“GM and Toyota also are fighting for global leadership in technology. Toyota forged ahead with its hybrid technology, but now GM is trying to beat Toyota to market with plug-in hybrid vehicles that can be recharged from household outlets. GM hopes to produce plug-in vehicles by 2010, and Toyota says it expects to have a test fleet of plug-ins on the road by then.”

Personally I can’t wait for 100 mpg cars and making all electric local errands. The cleaner air and peace will be nice too. Far less costly in dollars and blood. Comments?

Toyota will be showing off its new A-BAT Concept Vehicle at the upcoming North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit on Monday January 14, 2008. It’s a small compact truck hybrid truck that will use Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive® technology (4 cylinder gasoline hybrid) to deliver better fuel economy. It even has photovoltaic panels on the roof for… not sure what for… concept car kicks I guess.

From the press release it sounds a lot like Toyota looked to the Honda Ridgeline for inspiration. The A-BAT is said to have car-like handling, unibody construction, independent suspension (we think), and 19 inch rims.

The four foot truck bed is said to have more flexibility than a normal pickup with a two foot high (long) tail gate and a pass-through gate into the cab. The width of the bed can accommodate a 4X8 sheet of plywood. At first this truck might sound more suited for a weekend do-it-yourselfer than a contractor’s pickup but it also comes with AC and DC outlets for powering tools and other electronic devices. The battery pack that comes with the hybrid technology helps out with this.

No word on the exact MPG, price, availability, or even if this concept vehicle will make it to market. It looks pretty cool and far along in development so our bet is we’ll be seeing something like this in the Toyota showrooms in the near future. The Honda Ridgeline has definitely paved the way in this market segment and by adding a few more novel ideas and better fuel economy Toyota will probably have a winner. Comments?