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Title: Hybrid hysteria
Source:
capitolhillblue
URL Source: http://www.capitolhillblue.com/content/2006/07/hybrid_hysteria.html
Published: Jul 28, 2006
Author: BETSY HART
Post Date: 2006-07-28 19:51:53 by Jhoffa_
Keywords: None
Views: 232
Comments: 1
What is it with the halos following the hybrids? There you are, in a group of folks having a perfectly rational discussion, then one person announces she's looking into getting a hybrid car _ that environmentally correct model that uses both gas and electricity _ and everyone sort of says, "wow, really?" and "good for you!" as if the person has just scored eternally usable brownie points for helping to rescue the planet. The cars are given all sorts of special status. Their buyers get tax breaks. In many parts of the country, they get a free pass to drive on "high occupancy vehicle (HOV)" lanes, even if there is only one driver. Chicago Alderman Rey Colon has just introduced an ordinance in the City Council there to allow hybrids to enjoy free public parking. "He doesn't know how much revenue it would cost the city, but suggests raising metered rates to make up the difference," the Chicago Sun-Times reported this week. Apparently no price is too much for glory. What's next? Giving hybrid drivers the right to park in handicapped spots? This feel-goodism has never felt quite right to me. It's not just that until recently the cars were so little and lacked power _ I prefer big, heavy and safe _ it's that it's always been the case that the market doesn't support them. They may be politically correct, but hybrids would get nowhere without government and manufacturer subsidies. (Car companies take losses on the cars.) Hybrids cost about $6,000 more to make than similar gas-powered car, and consumers won't shell that out _ whatever their politics _ and so buyers require the subsidies, Reason magazine recently reported. But car manufacturers won't go out of business over hybrids, either. Despite all the hype and the recent spike in gas prices, sales of hybrids have dropped every month this year compared to the same month last year. So much so, manufacturers like Ford are backing away from earlier politically motivated commitments to produce so many of them, Reason revealed. In fact, hybrid manufacturers are now doing what car manufacturers always do, according to National Geographic magazine _ trying to add horsepower to the vehicles _ because that is what the buyer wants. But that will, in turn, lower their fuel efficiency. Already, by the way, outside of the Environmental Protection Agency's special testing sites, they don't get near the great gas mileage we're told they do, The Weekly Standard magazine recently showed. Look, some folks just like the things and saving some money on gas, and good for them. What I object to is the myth that persists in the popular culture that hybrids confer some kind of special "pure" status on the driver. I wonder if once they grow nearly as big and heavy as an SUV, if they will keep their halos? My bet is "yes" _ some people just want to feel good about feeling good about themselves, no matter the facts. Even these: The well respected auto research firm, CNW Marketing in Brandon, Ore., recently found after a two-year study collecting data on the "dust to dust" energy costs of the cars, meaning the "energy necessary to plan, build, sell, drive and dispose" of them, that the hybrids don't stack up well against their gas powered counterparts. That's in part because they require such complicated computer systems and hard-to-make, light-weight materials, and they don't last nearly as long as gas-powered cars (around 100,000 vs. 300,000 miles). CNW translated all that and more into "energy costs per miles driven" and found that hybrids use more total energy in their lifetime than their gasoline powered cousins. Hear this _ even a Hummer, the ultimate bane of the environmentalist world _ uses less total energy over its lifetime than any currently offered hybrid (including the halo-special, the Prius), said Car and Driver magazine in reporting on the study. Well look, apparently nobody is going to give me a halo or a tax break or a special parking space or room on the "HOV" lanes for driving my gas-powered minivan, and that's fine. (I once wanted a halo for accommodating myself to a minivan, but I'm over that now.) I just don't think those of us who resist the hybrid craze _ maybe even those folks who dare to drive Hummers _ should be seen as having horns either
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