 |
Capital Times Article |
|
| |
Beyond Oil
Hybrid
Festival Touts Alternative Vehicles
The Capital Times : BUSINESS : E1
Thursday, July
20, 2006
By Jeff Richgels
The Capital Times
Bill Robbins didn't buy a hybrid Toyota Prius to save
money.
"I wanted a car that polluted less, and by the way I
saved in gas," said Robbins, who bought a 2004 Prius in
October 2003. "But was it going to pay for itself? That's
not why I bought it."
For hybrids ever to break beyond "do-gooders" like
Robbins and into the mainstream of car buyers, the
cost/benefit formula needs to change so it makes sense
economically to buy a hybrid, he believes.
That means either drastically cutting the thousands of
dollars extra a hybrid costs over a comparable regular model
or drastically increasing the savings of owning one --
something soaring gas prices are doing and tax incentives
can help with.
"They need to make cheaper, more efficient hybrids,"
Robbins said.
The thousands of people expected to attend Saturday's
inaugural Hybridfest -- the nation's first major hybrid car
show -- at the Alliant Energy Center will get a chance to
see the "plug-in" technology Robbins believes may be an
answer.
Enterprising "backyard" mechanics have turned hybrid
Toyota Prius sedans into plug-in Prius models by adding
extra batteries and other electronics so that they can
travel up to about 40 miles a day solely on electric power,
enabling those who don't drive much to all but forget
filling up their gas tank. (Non plug-in hybrids charge while
the car is decelerating and at a stop.)
"For a really long-term solution we'll get off of
gasoline all together" with technologies like hydrogen, said
Robbins, a member of the Madison Hybrid Group that organized
Hybridfest. "But for the near-term, the next best solution I
think is the plug-in hybrid."
At least two companies are developing plug-in kits and
one -- Hymotion of Canada -- will be at Hybridfest with a
couple of plug-in vehicles.
"They say they are going to start selling packages to
people to upgrade their Prius'," Robbins said.
However, when they become available most people will need
to pay a mechanic to do the work, he added.
"It's never going to be mainstream until the
manufacturers are building plug-in hybrids and they have
really engineered the car from the ground up as a plug-in,"
Robbins said.
John Dolan, a salesman at Smart Toyota of Madison who
specializes in hybrids, is "really looking forward" to
seeing the Hymotion plug-ins.
"The problem is it costs $10,000 to $12,000 to convert to
plug-in," Dolan said. "And adding the heavy hardware slows
down performance."
Toyota long resisted the plug-in technology, warning that
it voided the vehicle's warranty, but this week the
automaker announced plans to develop a plug-in hybrid,
although it gave no timeline.
The plug-in being pursued by Toyota would be able to
"travel greater distances without using its gas engine, it
will conserve more oil and slice smog and greenhouse gases
to nearly imperceptible levels," Jim Press, president of
Toyota's North American subsidiary, said Tuesday in a speech
at the National Press Club.
Plug-ins do draw power from power plants, but that
results in less greenhouse gas emissions than direct burning
of gasoline. And since the charging typically is done at
night when power demand is well below day-time peaks, a big
jump in plug-in use wouldn't mean a need for new power
plants.
Press said Toyota's hybrid technology has long-term
staying power because it can adapt to several alternatives,
such as clean diesels, biodiesels, ethanol, plug-in hybrids
or hydrogen fuel cells.
According to the Electric Power Research Institute, half
the cars in the U.S. are driven just 25 miles a day or less.
"A plug-in vehicle with even a 20-mile range could reduce
petroleum fuel consumption by about 60 percent," said Bob
Graham, manager of EPRI's Electric Transmission program.
Dolan believes hybrids can become mainstream when they
reach 10 to 40 miles a day of electric use only.
That may be achievable with improved batteries alone, he
added, noting that lithium ion batteries are in development
that will be superior to and replace the current NiMH
batteries used in hybrids. Dolan said Toyota is aiming to
come out with an all-new hybrid design featuring lithium ion
batteries in 2008.
But, cautions Dolan, "There is no silver bullet. Toyota
is working on a variety of hybrids, trying to make them
smaller, lighter and cheaper ... trying to find the way that
works the best until some day hydrogen gets worked out."
The Prius, which doesn't come in a gas-only version, has
been the best-selling hybrid since it went on sale in 2000,
and became the first hybrid to top 100,000 annual sales in
2005.
Hybridfest will feature more than 100 hybrid cars with
participants registered from more than 20 states and Canada,
Robbins said. Details are available at www.hybridfest.com
for the event that runs in conjunction with the Dane County
Fair from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday. Parking and admission
are free.
Test drives will be available, hybrid owners will be on
hand to talk about what it's really like to drive a hybrid,
and there will be speakers talking on a variety of topics.
Dolan said Toyota also is sending a "real expensive"
exhibit piece -- a cross-section of a Toyota Highlander
hybrid cut in half showing how its hybrid synergy drive
works.
The hybrid vehicles that will be on display include the
Saturn VUE Green Line that hasn't hit the market yet and the
new Toyota Camry, which Dolan said has been proving
extremely popular since they started arriving at Smart in
mid-May. The regular Camry has been the best-selling
passenger car in the U.S. for eight of the last nine years.
Smart has sold about 10 hybrid Camrys and has about 45
people on the waiting list, which requires a $500 fee, Dolan
said.
Those folks may wait quite a while since the Kentucky
plant that will produce half of the 100,000 hybrid Camrys a
year isn't scheduled to open until October, leaving just a
plant in Japan producing the cars.
"We're only going to be getting maybe five a month until
things crank up," he said.
The hybrid Camry essentially provides the power of a
6-cylinder engine with the mileage of a 4-cylinder.
Dolan said the hybrid Camry he drove got about 40 miles
per gallon in the city and 34 to 35 on the highway. A
regular V6 Camry is rated at 31 highway and 22 city.
Hybrid Camrys don't come in "stripped-down" versions. The
MSRP on the hybrid Camry with the fewest features is
$26,400, Dolan said. A similarly equipped regular V6 Camry
LE is $25,900. Fully loaded versions of each are about
$30,000, Dolan said.
"We find a lot of people who are buying these cars aren't
necessarily just people who want fuel savings -- they're
also what we call principle buyers" motivated by reducing
pollution and America's dependence on foreign oil, Dolan
said. "But I am selling more to people who are just looking
for better mileage. They're tried of paying for the gas."
That is backed up by a recent Autobytel poll that found
that while only 35 percent of car shoppers said their
current vehicle gets at least 25 mpg, 71 percent said their
next vehicle must get at least 25 mpg, and 43 percent said
it must get better than 30 mpg.
Home | Up | Contact | About Us
|
Become a Hybridfest
Volunteer!