Comments on: Essay: The great hybrid swindle

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Bullshit Steve. Do some research. Watch "Who Killed the Electric Car". Don't post mindless comments on a topic you obviously know little about.

The reason car companies hate the idea of electric cars is because there is very little money in making cars - most of the money comes from maintaining vehicles already in use (pay $300 for an oil change and you know what I'm talking about). An electric car has bugger all moving parts compared to a combustion engine vehicle, so not only costs a fraction of the price to run, but a fraction of the price to maintain.

And yes, emissions from brown-coal electricity are still far less than those of petrol.

By: smssiva

smssiva — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

I own a Prius since May 2006. I have to say it is definitely more roomier than the Getz or the Corolla. The NRMA report has low resale values which is not correct and also classifies it with Getz a smaller cheaper car. hence their conclusion of high running costs. I get 4.2 to 4.4 L per 1000 in the City cycle and 4.4 when I do my run to Taree or Newcastle from Sydney. I am not aware of any diesel car of similar interior size with these figures

By: Sean

Sean — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Good news on the reported mileage by users. I had concerns that the weight of the extra electric motor and a large battery bank was equivalent to carrying one or two extra people in the vehicle, and had heard that a new VW Golf diesel was just as fuel-efficient at 45mpg (5.2l/100km). The latest Golf under development claims 3.18l/100km with a diesel engine only (http://www.themotorreport.com.au/7671/vw-reveals-ultra-efficient-golf-bluemotion-concept). Unfortunately, there is still a big weight penalty to pay with current battery technology. An inventor at Stanford University has recently come up with ‘silicon nanowire’ lithium-ion batteries which promise to hold 10x as much charge as existing Li-ion batteries, however: news-service.stanford.edu/news/2008/january9/nanowire-010908.html

By: Jos Dreezen

Jos Dreezen — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

I drive a Prius as a taxi in Cairns, North Queensland, and the poor bugger has already 510,000 kilometers on the clock!

I am extremely satisfied with the prius, as it is very fuel efficient and very reliable, with nearly no break-downs over these 500,000 kms.

I think I can drive a prius under normal non-taxi driving conditions at 4 l/100 kms. I did a few test that confirm this, as well on country roads as in town driving.

It's fuel consumption as a taxi (with the taxi hail light in the middle of the rooftop, as if to break the aerodynamics and thus fuel economy; and usually driving in a big, big hurry...) is on average around 6 l/100kms, which is half that of a camry taxi in cairns, around 12 l/100kms, and less than half that of a ford falcon taxi in cairns, around 14 l/100kms.

my taxi saves around 1000 liters of fuel every month at around 16,000 kms / month. Over its 2.5 years this means that it has saved 30,000 liters of fuel... I can understand that for some people this means nothing, but hey, next time you see a fuel truck, think about how much petrol this prius taxi saved!

I think the real future for private use cars is the full electrical car, coupled with 100% renewable electricity source, as mentioned in the article.

I also think that Toyota, by sticking out their neck and fortunately having a commercial success with the prius, have been paving the way for more steps towards a full-electrical car, and so deserve all of our appreciation.

and above all: the biggest fuel economy can be gained by just driving cars less, and while driving, have a soft foot: every-ones decision.

By: steve martin

steve martin — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Electric cars green? There is no such thing as a free lunch, as long as the electric power comes from a coal burning power house all you are doing is transferring the emissions from the car to the power house.
of course you may also end up with a warm inner glow.

By: Peter Vogel

Peter Vogel — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Steve, yes they can be zero emission. As I said in the article:
“Using renewable energy, which is now readily available, electric cars are truly zero emission. You can put solar panels on the roof of your house, or you can simply buy renewable energy from your electricity supplier.”

Even if you do you coal fired electricity, you put less carbon into the atmosphere than burning petrol which has to be transported half way around the world, refined, and trucked to a petrol station before you can even start to burn it in an engine that probably turns half of the energy into useless heat.

By: Jean Buckley

Jean Buckley — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

I drive a Honda Hybrid and I love it. The servicing costs are low and the fuel conumption is also low. I recently drove to Sydney with 5 people and luggae in the car and the fuel useage was 5.3l/100kms. I’ve had the car for 18 months now. I’d be happy to swop to an electric car, my husband and I are about to go off grid with our power so it will be a great option.

By: Wayne Robinson

Wayne Robinson — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

I drive a Prius. I do agree that a fully electric car would be better, if it was recharged from renewable sources such as wind power. I haven’t had any problems mechanically with the Prius. Fuel consumption on country trips has been on the order of 4.5l/100km. In the city, it has been as low as 4.4l/100km. It’s worse when the roads are wet or when I do a lot of short trips.

By: Ted O'Brien

Ted O'Brien — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Electric cars do indeed just replace the Prius’s petrol with the coal fired power station.

The simplest way to reduce emissions in Australia is to raise the number of people in the average vehicle. This would also reduce traffic problems.