Toronto Star anti-hybrid story

I kinda think he has a good point.

Personally, I don't see why *any* PZEV car that gets over 30 combined mpg shouldn't be eligibile for a tax credit. The higher the mileage, the higher the credit.

 

I come from a different approach. Since the tax credit is supposed to encourage hybrid sales, why offer it on a car with a permanent six-week backlog of orders? Its not like people need any additional encouragement to buy a Prius...

 

So he notes that sales are low, then lambasts attempts top provide incentives for raising that figure. Hmmm...

Maybe he'd like a good cheese to go with that whine.

 

As usual the moribund American Car manufacturers are using the media to protect their turf. According to them we should blindly support the American car manufacturers and buy those wonderful gas guzzling SUVs and drive the whole North American continent into the abyss.

 

The credit was increased because a politician gets to score points for appearing to help the environment, without it actually costing him anything. As for the article, well, you weren't really expecting honesty and intelligence from a newspaper, were you?

 

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Here's my take (submitted to them as a letter to the editor:

Though I agree with the author's position on raising gas taxes rather than only rewarding hybrid drivers and not blindly accepting any new idea or technology that comes along, I was dismayed to read about the negativity towards hybrid technology in a recent article. I believe that it has been unfairly represented in the media to a public that is not well aware of all the benefits of hybrid technology, and why such vehicles will be in our future.

The article mentioned that hybrid vehicles don't save gas on the highway. This is untrue for two reasons:

1) economical-minded hybrids utilize a smaller (and thus more efficient) gas engine than would a gas-only equivalent.

2) Regenerative braking is still applicable to highway driving. I don't know what highways the author drives on, but where I drive we are constantly speeding up and slowing down.

I also disagree with another sentiment: the author of the article also expressed a sentiment along the lines that fuel cells would supplant hybrids. On the contrary, hybrids could be crucial to fuel cell technology.

By widely adopting hybrid technology, automakers will pave the way towards making fuel cell vehicles a reality. The path from the modern internal combustion engine to the fuel cell is thus a continuum, with hybrids bridging the gap, as many components and electronics are shared between fuel cell and hybrid vehicles

The reverse process of hydrolysis is highly inefficient and expensive. Toyota’s fuel cell hybrid vehicles will adapt a battery much like today’s hybrids to capture regenerative energy and improve performance and fuel economy. “In an Associated Press interview, Jim Press, president of Toyota Motor Sales USA, said: ‘I think everything will be a hybrid, eventually. It will either be a gas hybrid, a diesel hybrid, or a fuel-cell hybrid.”

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mirza @ Apr 4 2006, 01:05 PM) [snapback]234776[/snapback]</div>

How about a pedal hybrid? Hills would be easier both ways: a little help on the way up with an electric motor, and regenerative brakes on the way down so the disks don't warp. Lightweight batteries and removal of the ridiculous speed governor would make electric bicycles far more interesting.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sarge @ Apr 4 2006, 10:25 AM) [snapback]234655[/snapback]</div>

If so, then a liberal infected with bushycronism (a nasty disease in which special interests and lobbying define political decisions). Or is could be an infection with a mutated variant, bushDoubleTalk, in which a small amount of money is spent to buy off or appear to support one policy, while really advancing another.

pzev, 30 mpg ? pfft.

Start at pzev, 50 mpg, and set out a schedule for increasing thresholds over time to meet tax credit requirements. Let the best tech/smartest consumer win.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jbarnhart @ Apr 4 2006, 07:59 AM) [snapback]234714[/snapback]</div>

Bravo!!! I've been saying this for two years! Toyota sells every Prius it can make. The tax credits, deductions, and rebates do not put one single extra Prius on the road.

I don't know how the HCH fares in this regard.

 

I have to wonder if he also got jealous/angry by being stuck in rush hour traffic and saw a Prius zoom by.

 

as this is from Canada you should realize that there is no 6 week waiting period for a Prius. Up here they sit on dealer lots for 6 weeks or more. So I'd quess the dealers will take advantage of a rebate to move the inventory.