New Hybrid Car? or keep the old?

[Paisley]

I think I'm going to go with a motocycle to save on gas... But how do I carry my fedora.

Saddlebags?

 

[Zig2k143]

Saddlebags?

Wouldn't a Saddlebag crush a fedora? Maybe I should make a thread.

 

[Pilgrim]

I'd keep the old car... Until Hybrids are plug in they aren't much use...

A nice thought. I refer to plug-in cars as "nuclear powered", because that's the power source in power plants throughout much of the US. In some parts of the country, plug-in cars are "coal powered", when that's the energy source used in the power generating plant.

In a few places in the Pacific NW plug-in cars are hydroelectric powered, based on the power generation methodology employed there.

I thought the most recent GM effort using a small gas-powered motor to charge the battery packs was very promising, as it bypassed the need for AC power charging. But the battery packs are still the weakest and most expensive link that needs to be resolved to created hybrids which are well suited for general use.

 

[dhermann1]

I've ridden in several NYC taxicabs lately that were Ford Escape hybrids, and I asked all the drivers whet kind of mileage they get. They all uniformly tell me about 21 mpg. Pretty underwhelming.

 

[Twitch]

There is no free energy. If by some magic spell all cars were transformed in to electrics tomorrow they would still have to get the energy from somewhere. Whatever the source of energy plants' fuel you're still robbing Peter to pay Paul. The energy is being created by some other fuel source, dirty or clean, and transformed into electricity.

Once thing for certain if you're one of the global warming worry warts- there is NO cold energy. All energy is created under assorted heat processes.

 

[Miss Kitty]

don't do it

from experience with our fleet toyota hybrids at the county of LA, I can tell you we have had a lot of problems with them. For the one assigned to our division, we had to have the touch screen replaced, and it still isn't right. The fleet guys who have about 3 or 4 had to also have the touch screen replaced (it made it so you couldn't turn the heat or air conditioning on or off) Since our car was covered under warrenty (we got it in about June 2004, the problem occured early 2007), it didn't cost us anything, but it was out for about 2-3 weeks. The problem is that when the fleet guys had to get their touch screen replaced it cost about 5,000 a piece. It is lovely to drive, didn't have problems with the hybrid technology itself, just other glitches that have to be ironed out. I'd wait on it