How would you like to run your car for the equivalent of less than one dollar per gallon, with much lower emissions? Impossible, right?
A step-by-step breakdown of what happens when you sit behind the wheel of a hybrid car.
Are all hybrids created equal? Get a grasp on the definitions: full hybrid, mild hybrid, plug-in hybrid, parallel hybrid and serial hybrid...
Carlos Ghosn, president and CEO of Nissan, unveiled the company’s five-year business plan on Tuesday. The plan puts a major emphasis on electric vehicles. Hybrid and EV fans responded with enthusiasm—but also engaged their well-worn vaporware alert systems to detect false promises, improbable plans, and insincerity.
The buzz around electric sports-car-maker Tesla Motors is sparking something akin to what happened in California 150 years ago—this time the rush is toward plug-in electric and hybrid vehicles. Undaunted by Tesla’s difficulties in delivering on early promises, small companies are charging forward with a “if they can build a car, why not us” attitude. Many claim that 2010 will be their year.
Facing pressure to improve efficiency and reduce emissions, the auto industry is responding by taking a page out of Europe’s playbook—where smaller cars and smaller engines rule, but driving fun has not been banished from the equation. Smaller yet powerful engines are possible due to advances in supercharging, turbocharging, and direct injection.
PSA/Peugeot-Citroën will make so-called “micro-hybrids” standard equipment in its small and medium cars in Europe. The French company’s move toward applying a basic form of hybrid technology to the majority of its vehicles could be a much bigger deal than more dramatic but less feasible eco-friendly concept cars recently on display at the Geneva Motor Show.
ZAP, the California-based electric car maker, is teaming up with Colorado-based Hybrids Plus to offer plug-in conversion systems for the Toyota Prius and Ford Escape Hybrid.
In an effort to spread hybrid technology to a wider range of high-production vehicles, General Motors plans to improve its current mild hybrid system. The new system, which promises a 15 to 20 percent improvement in fuel efficiency compared to similar gas-powered vehicles, was showcased in the Saab 9-X BioPower hybrid concept at the 2008 Geneva Motor Show.
Volkswagen is the latest car company to announce plans to introduce a vehicle that combines hybrid and diesel technologies. The company says that a diesel-hybrid Golf, to be offered in Europe as early as 2009, will achieve 70 miles to the gallon. But is the cost of combining technologies simply too high?
