Hybrid Update

Back in November 2004 I wrote a long entry on Hybrid cars. Basically another blog was saying the Toyota Prius and other Hybrids were over hyped and that they were not worth the price of the car. The main arguments against hybrids were:
1. Mileage claimed by the manufacturer wasn't achievable in real world driving.
2. Acceleration is sluggish that makes the car dangerous to others, especially on the highway.
3. Drive without the A/C or walk to save the planet.

Well its now January 2007 and wanted to revisit the complaints the original author had against hybrids.

Mileage: Well the EPA is looking to revise how the official MPG is calculated and I believe ALL cars and trucks will see their mileage go down. Hybrids may go down more then other cars.

I'm still getting 46.5 miles per gallon on city driving, freeway is now 49-50 miles per gallon. That's real world driving. A co worker who just purchased a Prius is getting 50 MPG on the freeway and 52 on the city, his real world. My sister-in-law is only getting 25-30 MPG because she drives more assertively, with more acceleration and hard stopping.

The mileage isn't as good as the EPA estimates, but we have all cut our gasoline consumption in half from our prior cars. That isn't too bad.

Acceleration: I've taken the car on trips to Las Vegas and all around So Cal and have not had any problem keeping up with traffic getting on or off the freeway. Acceleration is fine. No, the sports cars won't have to worry about my overtaking them, but I'm not holding anyone but street racers back.

No AC or walk: Walking to work is not a practical option, I live over 12 miles away from work and it would take several hours to walk each way. No AC? Well turning off the AC may help a car get 1 to 2 MPG improvement, but I haven't seen any car that is getting 46 MPG in the city, real world not just EPA MPG.

4 people have purchased Toyota Prius' after I recommended them (they didn't buy the car because of me, but they did seem to value my opinion of the car) and they are all happy with the cars.

So hybrids can be useful in helping to reducing the amount of gasoline the US uses every day. They are not the solution to the energy questions, but they are part of the solution.