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"President Barack Obama’s administration has bought almost a fourth of the Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. hybrid vehicles sold since he took office, accelerating federal purchases as consumer demand wanes. The government is boosting investment in a technology that has failed to win broad acceptance after more than a decade in the marketplace. Consumer sales of hybrids are headed for their third consecutive yearly decline. Toyota Motor Corp. sold the first hybrid Prius in Japan in 1997 and Honda Motor Co. introduced the first hybrid to the U.S. in 1999. Total U.S. hybrid sales since then have been about 1.8 million, or about 1 percent of the 175 million cars and trucks sold during that period."
[b]So, if hybrids have been ignored by the general public, should the federal government keep buying them and sinking taxpayer dollars into them?[/B] The feds used $300 million of stimulus money to pay for their hybrid fleet. Plus, he's committing more money to the plug-ins:
"Obama has set a goal of 1 million plug-in vehicles on the road by 2015 and has committed more than $11 billion in taxpayer funding to help support the technology."
In 1984 I bought a car that got 45 MPG on the highway. It was a Nissan Pulsar NX.
In 1986 I bought a car that never failed to deliver less than 50 mpg. A Honda CRX HF.
Today if your car gets 35MPG its something special.
A Hybrid requires a whole lot of mechanics and engineering to deliver what simple cars did in the 1980's.
By the way those cars I owned, niether of them cost more than $8500.00. Both were fun to drive and never had a breakdown in the years I owned them. I owned that Pulsar until 1995.
So cars produce lower emmissions but require 25% more fuel to do it.
Hybrids still don't approach the numbers of the Honda CRX and cost $20,000.00 more dollars.
As for we normal folks? Hybrids won't take off until the manufacturers solve two problems:
1. Range. The very limited range of those things just doesn't interest those of us who don't live in compacted urban areas where everything is close at hand
2. Price: They must think we're idiot's who are willing to more than top dollar to be "green." What's the point of having one if the initial price is so high it eats up the prospective savings in gas?
The point isn't whether the cars are good or bad. It's that the public has no appetite for them. The same article in the original post says:
"The government purchased about 64 percent of GM’s Chevy Malibu hybrid models and 29 percent of all Ford Fusion hybrids manufactured since Obama took office in 2009, the data show. GM stopped making the Malibu hybrid in 2009 after lack of consumer demand."
As for we normal folks? Hybrids won't take off until the manufacturers solve two problems:
1. Range. The very limited range of those things just doesn't interest those of us who don't live in compacted urban areas where everything is close at hand
2. Price: They must think we're idiot's who are willing to more than top dollar to be "green." What's the point of having one if the initial price is so high it eats up the prospective savings in gas?
You forgot lack of public access docking/recharging stations. I'm in the market for a new car right now. I looked into hybrids, but the cost and lack of places to recharge them turned me off.
As for we normal folks? Hybrids won't take off until the manufacturers solve two problems:
1. Range. The very limited range of those things just doesn't interest those of us who don't live in compacted urban areas where everything is close at hand
2. Price: They must think we're idiot's who are willing to more than top dollar to be "green." What's the point of having one if the initial price is so high it eats up the prospective savings in gas?
Limited range? The Prius can go over 400 miles on a tank of gas. The Camry and Fusion hybrids can go over 500 miles on one fill-up. How much more range do you want??
Quote:
Originally Posted by whatyousay
You forgot lack of public access docking/recharging stations. I'm in the market for a new car right now. I looked into hybrids, but the cost and lack of places to recharge them turned me off.
There was a 2-year waiting list when I wanted to buy a hybrid.
Yeah, I'm glad we got our '06 Prius when we did. Great car.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stillkit
Why shouldn't the federal government buy hyrbids?
As for we normal folks? Hybrids won't take off until the manufacturers solve two problems:
1. Range. The very limited range of those things just doesn't interest those of us who don't live in compacted urban areas where everything is close at hand
2. Price: They must think we're idiot's who are willing to more than top dollar to be "green." What's the point of having one if the initial price is so high it eats up the prospective savings in gas?
1. Your comment about range is right on the mark for electric vehicles. But true hybrids, using both gas-fueled engines and hybrids batteries, have ranges comparable to gas-only vehicles. For example, in driving the Prius from DC to Boston (and getting 50+ mpg while doing so), I stop once for gas in northern Jersey ... the same stop I've made on the trip with every vehicle I've owned. If our Prius (11.9 gallon gas tank) had a gas tank as big as the one in our minivan, I wouldn't need to stop at all (in fact, I really don't need to stop - I could make the trip on one tank of gas, but early on I developed the habit of not letting the gas gauge on ANY vehicle I drove get too low).
2. Hybrids cost more, but there's a catch. The Prius we bought in '06 cost less than the vehicle we traded in for it ... and costs less to insure, and maintain, and for sure costs less to drive. As the technology improves, the costs to manufacture hybrid components will come down. We've seen that already with sharply reduced prices for replacement hybrid batteries.
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