New Honda Hybrid- “Spy Photos” from Road & Track Magazine

July 20, 2008 in cars, environment, gas prices, High mpg, Honda, Hybrid Vehicle, Over 40 mpg, sustainability, Toyota Prius, transporation, transportation costs
Tags: 2010 Honda, 2010 Honda Hybrid Car, cars, gas prices, High mpg, Honda Hybrid, hybrid cars, hybrid vehicles, lithium ion battery, Nickel metal hydride battery, Road & Track Magazine, sustainability, Toyota Prius, transportation, transportation costs

Yahoo Autos and Road & Track Magazine have provided “spy” photographs (by Brenda Priddy & Company) and a very preliminary description of the new Honda Hybrid, a 2010 model destined to reach dealers in late 2009. While details of the gasoline engine side of the car have not yet been disclosed, the electric side is reportedly based on a nickel/metal-hydride battery design rather than a lithium-ion battery. Gas mileage is thought by Road & Track to be “class leading” and well above 40 mpg. Author Sam Mitani says:

The price of this new car will be low, as Honda maintains it will be an entry-level car with 200,000 units selling annually — half of those to be sold in the United States. Early rumors indicate that it may be as low as $19,000. With seating for five, this 4-door, front-wheel-drive hatchback…

Although exactly where this car will fit into the Honda line is unknown to outsiders, the new Honda hybrid will compete with the Toyota Prius:

Whichever label it wears, one thing for sure is that the new Honda Hybrid will be one of the most fuel-efficient vehicles in the world, and may wrest the crown away from the Prius as the world’s favorite green car.

The appearance of another hybrid in the U.S. and world markets is certainly a cause for celebration, though my loudest cheers will be for the plug-in hybrids that will (or should) also be arriving soon.

Original text copyright © 2008 James K. Bashkin

Plug-in Hybrid Cars and Electric Cars: a Summary

April 1, 2008 in education, environment, science, science and society, sustainability
Tags: air pollution, alternative energy, alternative fuel, cost of eggs skyrockets, effects of biofuels on food prices, electric cars, electric trucks, environment, food prices, green, hybrid cars, liquid fuels, plug-in hybrids, rising food prices, transportation, wind power

What is a plug-in hybrid? It is a car that runs on electricity via a battery that you can charge by plugging into a regular electrical outlet. These cars, being hybrids, also have gas tanks that can be used to power the car and recharge the battery, giving you what some might call the best of all world’s (assuming mass transit, bicycling or walking aren’t options). Best of all would be to burn no liquid fuel, but plug-in hybrids allow us to reach, or closely approach, this ideal in many cases.

What is different about plug-in hybrids? The plug! Current commercial hybrid cars use batteries, but they inconveniently keep a barrier between you and the electric company. You have to burn gasoline (petrol) to charge the battery.

How can you buy a plug-in hybrid? You can buy a hybrid car “off the shelf” and have it converted to a plug-in hybrid. This service is available in the US, the UK and elsewhere. Plug-in hybrids may be available directly from Toyota by 2010. For more information on plug-in hybrid cars, the following sites are very valuable: Plug-in Partners, Plug-in America, Hybrids Plus (a manufacturer of plug-in hybrids in the US). See also the DVD “Who Killed the Electric Car?”, read the book “Plug-in Hybrids: the cars that will recharge America”, and read the blog “plugs and cars”. The site “What Green Car?” provides information about plug-in hybrids for consumers in the U.K.

What are the running costs of plug-in hybrids? Estimates suggest that the transportation costs are equivalent to gasoline at $1.00/gallon.

Don’t forget that purely electric cars and trucks and buses are also available in the US, the UK, and elsewhere. For example, in the US, Tesla Motors, Volt and Phoenix Motor cars offer a range from trucks to sports cars. I wrote a recent, short post on very small and inexpensive electric cars being made for India.

I’d like to hear about other plug-in hybrid and electric car options in the US and around the world, and people’s reaction to (a) the low cost of plug-in hybrids coupled with the security of a gas tank if you need it, vs. (b) purely electric cars, which now have long range driving ability as well as high power (in some cases).

Don’t forget that you can couple electric cars or plug-in hybrids with solar and/or wind powered electric systems for your home or work-place to minimize or eliminate the use of liquid hydrocarbon fuels like gasoline/petrol, ethanol, etc. You can even run your home off your car battery!

© James K. Bashkin, 2008

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“At $4 per Gallon, US Consumers Ditch SUVs”

February 2, 2008 in environment, science and society, sustainability
Tags: alternative fuels, DOE, fuel, gas prices, hybrid cars, MPG, oil, price of gas, SustainableBusiness.com, SUV

From SustainableBusiness.com (via my friend Steve B. at Gather.com), here is an article that predicts the point where gas prices will cause a five-fold increase in purchases of hybrid cars and the abandoning of SUVs by US consumers.  The point is said to be $4/gallon, a conclusion which is based on studies by Edmunds.com and the Civil Society Institute. Also, according to the article,

“The US DOE expects gas prices to reach a record $3.50 this spring”

Clearly, in addition to all of the concerns about the environment that many people have today, we are going to need some purely economic forces to change the nature of the average American car.  Those economic forces seem to be building strength.

Technorati Tags:green, sustainability, gas prices, suv, fuel costs, oil, hybrid cars, doe, us consumers, sustainablebusiness.com, edmunds.com, civil society institute, oil crisis,
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