Hybrid cars are very much the in-thing at present and in some uses they are indeed very good transport solutions. Perhaps the outstanding example is the use of hybrids for urban taxis because this use takes full advantage of hybrid benefits.
Hybrids are also making their mark in the area of high performance vehicles and there is no doubt that if you marry electric motors to a conventional petrol engine you can create an incredibly powerful beast of a car.
Not all car manufacturers make hybrids but a fair few do – with Toyota particularly coming to mind with the Prius.
So what are the benefits and dis-benefits of hybrids? Will they be a large part of the overall transport solution or not?
The benefits:
- Yes they are environmentally friendly not only because they save on petrol emissions but because they generally have the abilityto re-generate power through the braking system.
- The ability to re-generate is especially effective in round town driving which is why they are so good for taxis and similar vehicles. In this mode they are extremely efficient.
- They are very quiet, particularly in electric only mode.
- They have the abilityto produce high performance, particularly with both the electric and petrol motors in play.
- The operating (fuel) costs are low.
But there are dis-benefits:
- Size-for-size with the equivalent petrol or diesel vehicle they are expensive, and generally the extra cost will be recovered through lower operating cost only if there is a high rate of use – hence the market in commercial vehicles around town.
- They are complex because of the need to meld systems together.
- But most importantly they are too obviously an interim steps between then status quosolution of a petrol/diesel car and the ultimate solution of an all-electric car.
With all-electric cars the complexity disappears as the reliance on petrol or diesel as a constant backup decreases. As I have commented before the only things holding back the all-electric solution is the question of battery capacity, the availability of vehicles on the market, and the ready availability of filling points.
So will hybrids eventually disappear? I would guess not. There will continue to be situations where hybrids offer real advantages and will thus be the preferred choice. The determining factors will probably be whether the market stays at a sufficiently high level to keep costs down and to keep manufacturers interested in producing the cars.
In a future article I will take a look at diesel as a transport solution.
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This is another of Bas Walker’s posts on GrownUps. Please look out for his articles, containing his Beachside Ponderings.
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