Archive for January, 2012
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012
If you think that you will be making a difference in the environment by purchasing a plug-in hybrid car, you may want to give your purchase a bit more thought. Plug-in hybrids do help with the environment, but just because they don’t depend on fuel as much as regular hybrid cars do, doesn’t mean they are extremely beneficial to the environment. Actually, for many reasons, plug-in hybrid cars are not much better than regular hybrid cars when it comes to the green house effect and the ozone layer.
The reason why plug-in hybrid cars are not much better than the environment has to do with the type of power they use. The electricity that hybrid cars run off of usually comes from coal-fired plants. Therefore, a plug-in hybrid car would only be a little bit better for the environment than a regular hybrid car.
Still, some people believe that this isn’t true. Plug-in hybrid cars are better for the environment than regular hybrid cars, they insist. This is because some people believe that hands down electric power is much cleaner than fuel power. People who insist plug-in hybrid cars are better for the environment also say that plug-in hybrid cars don’t really need a lot of electricity to power them. They recharge their own batteries. So they don’t have to be dependent on other sources of power. The electric sockets are used merely to top off those batteries.
These people point out that it’s also not that you must plug it in, but that you can plug it in, and that makes a huge difference. If you can plug it in, you don’t have to use electricity that comes from coal-fired plants.
But people who say that plug-in hybrids aren’t that good for the environment might say that sure, you don’t have to plug it in, but if you don’t, you are just depending on gasoline. Then, there’s no point of even having the debate about plug-in hybrid cars. And hey, if we are going to go back to using gasoline, how about we just scrap the idea of plug-in hybrid cars in general?
The point is this: These kinds of hybrid cars can be worthwhile to own, but don’t think these hybrid cars will be the answer to all of your problems. If you are a tree lover, maybe stick to finding out a way to decrease the use of aerosol sprays and cigarette smoke. But when it comes to hybrid cars. You might be doing about the same for the environment if you bought either a regular hybrid car or a plug-in hybrid car. But either way, you are doing better than you would be if you bought a conventional car.
Plug-in hybrid cars are great hybrid cars to own and they are easy to love, but you might not want to make your expectations too high or you may end up disappointed. But in any case, make no mistake; a plug-hybrid car will be one of the best hybrid cars to buy when it comes out.
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Friday, January 13th, 2012
The future, a wonderful, mysterious, awe-inspiring time has promises for us. Many dream of ending cancer and other diseases. Others dream of bicycles that fly. And could we someday be able to transport ourselves from one place to another? Perhaps. But some of us have dreams that aren’t that big. All we want is a car that runs on something other than fuel.
Maybe one nice sunny day, we could all drive up to the pump and put some interesting chemical in our car that would make it run forever. Maybe we could gas up on some cooking oil or even oxygen. But for now, we have hybrids. Maybe they are the answer to our dilemma. Are these cars the wave of the future?
It seems like they are for many reasons. These cars are electric. “Electric” is a word that is linked with innovation and imagination. Electric signals “power.” That means the power to run and the power to run for miles and miles. That’s what a hybrid car is all about. When you get in one, you’ll know you’ll get to where you need to go and you won’t have to stop at ten gas stations on the way.
Remember when Edison came out with the electric light bulb? Everyone thought it was a great invention, and it has changed the lives of all of us. So a hybrid car is also changing all of our lives. It’s new, and very technologically advanced. Hybrid cars should get the same kind of recognition Edison did. However, hybrid cars do take some fuel to run them, but that doesn’t mean we should applaud them for being able to run on both electricity and fuel.
With all of the above reasons, hybrid cars seem to be the wave of the future, but there are a couple of reasons why that may not be true. For instance, there must be some reason why hybrids are not selling more than conventional cars. That’s because the average customer who looks at the sticker price on a hybrid car is stunned. It’s just too much money for the average car buyer. And how can a car be the wave of the future if it scares people away every time they come to look at it on the dealers’ lot?
Since the cost possibly overrides the benefits of the hybrid car, a hybrid car may just be a transitional car, and the actual wave of the future might be a car that is fueled by something other than “fuel.” Whatever that “fuel” is, I’m sure we will all like it and then we’ll be calling that fuel the wave of the future.
Some people today are already fueling their cars with cooking oil, but that doesn’t seem to have caught on world wide like hybrid cars have. Therefore, cooking oil does not seem to be the solution for us. But, maybe some day, people will start fiddling with their hybrid cars and come up with something much better than the design that is before them.
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Thursday, January 5th, 2012
Hybrids are well known for their great reputation as fuel-saving and eco-friendly cars. They’ve also developed a reputation for being the car type that environment conscious, careful, dare we even say staid drivers choose.
Why is this? Their engines last well as they’re put under less strain than a conventional car’s internal combustion engine. So they need fewer and lighter services. They are low emission cars that help to protect the environment, as they use less of the finite resources of fossil fuel left on the planet. Yet, unlike electric cars there is no concern about the potential of being left stranded somewhere, having run out of charge. By being hybrid in nature, it’s natural that they have two sides to them – reliable, yet not particularly exciting.
However, it’s now getting more and more common to see more high performance cars that are also hybrids. Honda, one of the pioneers in hybrid technology, has its own sporty version – the CR-Z. It’s got a similar exterior to the Honda CR-X, and has been viewed as the CR-X’s successor. The 2011 CR-Z gets 31 miles per US gallon for city driving and 37 mpg on the highway. It goes from 0-60 in 8.8 seconds.
Porsche has also brought out a hybrid – the Porsche Panamera s Hybrid. This can reach 0-60 in just six seconds and has a top speed of 167.8mph. On a combined cycle its fuel economy is 34 miles per gallon. Added to all this, it’s the cleanest car Porsche has – with carbon dioxide emissions of 159g/km. But the price to pay for this kind of clean racing machine may be off-putting for a lot of potential buyers. At US $135,000 it’s worth thinking twice about how much you want to try and combine the benefits of driving an eco car with the wish to drive something sporty!
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