signal12's Blog

Why people want to drive hybrid cars? "We only have one planet," said actor Kevin Bacon to the question why he was driving the Toyota Prius hybrid. "We have to protect this one."

Besides being environmentally friendly, these cars are fun to drive too.

More and more people are buying hybrids instead of traditional cars, reducing the average costs of producing a hybrid car, making hybrids more affordable.

Dispite big oil trying to spread as much negative press on these gas sippers. Most have a top speed of 100+ mph

Moreover, as hybrids deliver the best miles-per-gallon, they are very friendly on your wallet once you've purchased a hybrid vehicle. Think about it 500 miles on 11 gallons of regular fuel, the entire electrical system having a 8yr / 100k warranty!

How Much Better is Hybrid Car Gas Mileage?

In certain driving modes, hybrid electric gas cars offer you no better fuel efficiency than standard cars. In city driving you can expect a 10-15% improvement in gasoline consumption. Does not sound like a lot off the top, but it's a start. In theory if we all drove hybrids, U.S. gas consumption would drop 10%. Also the fuel efficiency of Hybrid cars and SUVs works counter intuitive to what you would expect. Your gas mileage could be more volatile with a hybrid vehicle due to the way it operates in different driving modes, and how much time you spend in each driving mode. In some driving modes, your fuel efficiency can be better, and in some modes your fuel efficiency can offer you no benefit at all. We will give you enough information here to help you decide if a hybrid vehicle is right for you. But first, let's clear the air on the common myths and misconceptions of hybrid vehicles.

Stop blaming the President, stop blaming the oil companies and Congress about oil prices!

Everyone wants to blame everyone else for their problems. Don't blame the President or oil companies for ultra high gasoline prices. If you want to blame someone, go into the bathroom and point into the mirror, because it's your fault! It's my fault, it's everyone's fault. In 2007 China was in record growth mode, they are using 60% of the world's supply of construction cranes, and their appetite for oil has not waned. Oil is not alone, lumber and drywall and cement have shot up because of the Chinese demand. Bush haters like to blame President Bush. But remember, oil has risen in price under every single president. Our population growth has shot up over 50 million since 1980. That's a lot more houses built and cars being driven, so the demand is much more than 2 decades ago. Sure oil companies took advantage of us and charged a bit more in 2005, making record profits, that's called capitalism dudes, instead of complaining about their record profits, buy their stock and join in on the profit. You sell your camera on eBay and it bids way up because the demand is there to support it. Is that someone's fault? Does that mean you are a greedy camera seller? But think about this, oil companies would not have had a leg to stand on with pricing if the demand for fuel from you and I were not so great. We all drive around in gas guzzling SUVs. We are treading water, like salmon going upstream, with respect to our oil consumption versus production. We consume many multiples of oil now compared to 1976, yet that was the last year we built a refinery in the United States.

Every time someone tries to build a refinery, some special interest group blocks it in court and wins. OPEC countries have refineries and drilling rigs all over the place, and they are all rich and happy. We are not allowed to build any more refineries which would increase our own oil supply and lower the price, so, so we are not rich and happy, we are paying more for oil, and funding our own demise. OPEC has their boot on our throat, and gee, isn't Iran part of OPEC? Great, so that means that while we are pumping gas into our tanks, we are also funding future terrorist attacks. We need to not only reduce our oil consumption, but switch modes to power sources other than oil to eliminate our dependency on other countries. Hybrid cars are starting points, not as efficient as we'd like, but they will lead to future technologies like cellulose and prairie grass, and other as yet created technologies. I admire what UPS does with their trucks, they try not to make any left hand turns at red lights, because the idle time waiting at the light burns up gas. One last thing. What are YOU doing to reduce your carbon footprint, and reduce our dependency on foreign oil? If you have not converted all your home lighting over to energy efficient CFL light bulbs yet, then you have absolutely no justifiable reason to complain. CFLs draw 25% of the energy of a standard light bulb, a technology which is on its way out the door anyway. Switch all your Christmas lights to LEDs, which draw 20% of the current of standard light bulbs. All of us chipping in as much as we can will reduce the demand for oil. Have energy audits performed on your house and fix the areas where you are leaking heat or air conditioning.

The U.S. used 3 times as much oil in 2005 as it did in 1995
According to the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration, oil company refining costs and profits only account for about 20% of the price of your gallon of gas. But guess what folks, federal and state taxes are also 20% of your gas price, and counties add even more on top of that, my county adds 18 cents per gallon, so if you want to point fingers and get angry at the oil companies, then you better start screaming at your state and local county for over taxing you. But by far the largest component of the price you pay per gallon of gas is the raw crude oil, which makes up by the largest price component of your gallon of gas at 53% or more. So we have to reduce our demand for foreign oil period. No way around it. As long as demand is high, crude oil will be high, just like whena new Play Station or iPhone or iPod comes out, demand is high, and people pay $1000 for them on eBay until demand dies down.

Why Oil Prices Have Risen So High In Recent Years

• Plain and simple, more demand for oil than supply
• Many millions more new houses and gas guzzling SUVs on the road than there were ten years ago, all adds up
• China and Russia are huge developing countries with huge appetites for oil, cement, lumber, and drywall
• We are traveling more, taking more packed flights to more new hotels that need oil to operate
• People live farther from work these days thanks to lower housing affordability, and take 2 hour commutes
• There's always problems in Nigeria or Middle East affecting refinery outputs
• U.S. refineries are at full capacity, they go offline all the time, and they can't build any more refineries
• OPEC purposely limits production every year to keep supply below demand and prices up
• US has not built a single refinery since 1976, yet our demand for oil is 3 times what it was in 1995

Think about it, in 1994, there were very few SUVs on the market. Remember the 70's? Riding bikes to work, carpooling? Hardly anyone does that anymore. China's insatiable demand for oil, cement, and lumber had not kicked in yet. The population was a lot lower in the 1970s, and there were fewer houses requiring electricity and heating oil. So the fault here lies with you and I much more than the President or Congress oil companies. China alone was the root cause of the largest increases in lumber and cement the last 2 years. All of us need to do what we can to conserve oil, not just with our cars, but in conservation and recycling of other resources we use that depend on oil. We need to attack this from multiple angles. Hybrid vehicles are one of many steps that we should be implementing. Hybrid cars CLAIM a 40% to 60% improvement in fuel efficiency for city driving. Just think if all of us drove hybrid cars, what that would do to the demand for gasoline. It does not take much of a drop in demand for oil at all to tip the scales and cause prices to drop.

Hybrid Myths:

I have assembled here some common myths that you might hear from your drunk Monday morning quarterback neighbor about hybrid vehicles.

Hybrid Car Myth #1: Hybrid cars need to be plugged in to charge them. You'll hear this one a lot. It is an old wives tale repeated by people who have no idea what they are talking about. Maybe they are thinking of the GM EV1, an all electric car that GM offered for lease only in the late 1990s. I have not heard of any hybrid cars that need to be charged.

Hybrid Car Myth #2: Hybrid cars get over 70 MPG! Again, this is false, most hybrids have EPA mile per gallon city ESTIMATES in the 30's to 50's best case. The fuel economy ratings for hybrid cars on the highway is slightly worse than the standard fuel only counterparts. With my driving habits, I can easily wipe out all the gains a Hybrid car gives you.

Hybrid Car Myth #3: The Hybrid's rechargeable battery only lasts for 2 years! Thank you for playing! Unlike standard 12 V lead acid car batteries, the eco-friendly rechargeable NiMH hybrid batteries usually come with 8 year warranties, and are designed to last that long too.

Hybrid Car Myth #4: If I run out of gas, I can keep driving on the electric motor! Nice try. Hybrid cars rely on the gas engine most of the time, and their electric motors MIGHT function for a short time if you run out of gas, but unless the gas engine is on and charging your hybrid electric battery, it will totally discharge. This could result in a catastrophic loss of your hybrid battery. But on the flip side, if your electric motor quits working, your gas motor will run on its own and still allow you to drive the car as a normal car. If your hybrid runs out of gas, and you really want to be foolish enough to try driving it anyway, call me first so I can come shoot video to send into MTV's Jackass.

Hybrid Vehicle Technology: Theory Of Operation Through 5 Driving Modes

Welcome to Hybrid theory 101. Hybrid cars operate differently depending on your current driving modes. We can divide your typical driving into 5 different modes. Your hybrid car acts differently in each of these 5 driving modes, in some modes the electric motor is operating, and some modes the gasoline engine is operating, and sometimes both are operating. Knowing how your hybrid vehicle operates under each mode is crucial to getting the most gas mileage, and minimizing emissions output. Of course the car makers don't tell you this, they just make it sound like you always get super high gas mileage like a Bingo free spot, no matter how you drive, but that may not be the case. Here are the 5 hybrid vehicle driving modes and their theory of operation:

1) Full Stop: At a full stop, like at a red traffic light or stop sign, the gas engine usually shuts off to eliminate idling, and reduce emissions. The electric motor is now ready to propel the car when push on the gas pedal. This is usually pretty seamless, and you might not even notice without seeing it on the power monitor indicator. In crowded cities with lots of stop and go traffic like the opening scene of Office Space, this can save you a lot of fuel.

2) Low Speed/Initial acceleration from a stop: First of all, Starting from a stop, and driving in a normal sane, just-like-your-grandmother acceleration from the stop line, the electric motor usually propels your car, powered by the electric motor's battery pack. This type of downtown stop and go traffic is where you save the most fuel with hybrids, counter intuitive to normal gas engines, where you burn the most fuel. The electric motor works up until about 25 -35 MPH without any help from the gas engine. The gas engine turns on and off as needed while you drive. . If you have a life to live and a lead foot like me, your hybrid SUV will be less efficient in this mode, because flooring the accelerator will demand extra power, causing the gas engine to kick in. This eliminates the fuel savings potential offered to you by your electric motor during this driving mode. If you don't drive your hybrid car like you are supposed to, don't expect to get the advertised fuel economy.

3) Heavy Acceleration:   Here your power comes from both the gas engine, AND the high torque electric motor, typically through some type of power splitting device. During this mode, you probably will not be saving as much fuel as you expect from all the advertising.

4) Highway Driving: This is where the fuel efficiency of Hybrid cars and SUVs works counter intuitive to what you would expect. The reason is that in this driving mode, the car is typically powered only by the both engines, which may be charging your electric motor battery pack at the same time. . If you are a highway commuter that drives an hour to work each way on the open highway with no stop and go traffic, a hybrid vehicle will probably offer you better fuel savings than driving a simaler non-hybrid model.

Figure in rush hour traffic you will get between 60-100 miles per gallon.

On the highway your looking at 40-50 mpg's... Again it depends on your individual driving habbits..

5) Braking, Coasting and Deceleration: When you brake or coast, forward kinetic energy that in standard car normally gets dissipated as heat is instead converted to electric energy. This is accomplished by using the old reliable spinning electrical motor in it's other role, now as a generator to charge the battery pack. This is why hybrid cars never need to be plugged in, despite old wives tales you might hear. This process of charging the battery is known as regenerative braking.

6) Backing Up: Ok I lied, there's a sixth mode, but who really counts going in reverse as a driving mode? In reverse the gas engine does not operate, the electric motor does all the work. Not that this will add huge amounts of fuel savings for you.

Pros and Cons Of Owning Hybrid Cars Pros Of Owning Hybrid Cars:

• Hybrid vehicles run cleaner. Toyota claims their cars are UP TO 80% cleaner than conventional gas engines
• Hybrid cars are environmentally friendlier than conventional gas engine cars, and have lower emissions
• You typically get 8 year warranties on the hybrid vehicle system
• Tax deductions/credits for "Clean Fuel Property".
• If enough people drive hybrids responsibly, our oil consumption will drop, causing OPEC to lower prices, giving you more spending cash
• If most of your driving is stop and go city traffic at slow speeds, you'll see a big benefit to owning a hybrid
• In some states, driving a hybrid vehicle earns you the perk of being a single occupant vehicle in the HOV lane, no more tickets! Yeah, now we're talking!

Cons Of Owning Hybrid Cars:

• Some high demand hybrids have waiting lists and often sell for premiums over window sticker price.
• Hybrid cars and Hybrid SUVs can cost a few thousand more than their conventional gas engine counterparts
• Gas savings can take a year or two to recoup the additional cost of buying a hybrid vehicle