For all you car manufacturers struggling to sell your hybrid vehicles, I’ve got a great idea for you. After all, hybrid vehicles are commonly criticized as expensive and too sophisticated, and potential buyers might be concerned about long-term reliability and resale value.
Well, if that’s what people think of hybrids, stop calling them hybrids. Actually, don’t call them anything other than normal cars and trucks that offer great fuel economy.
I got this idea after an argument broke out at the office over an upcoming comparison test involving 7-passenger, V6-powered SUVs and crossovers. Yours truly had originally included a Highlander Hybrid Limited in the bunch, which will also include newcomers such as the Ford Explorer and Dodge Durango. My colleagues pointed out that you can’t compare hybrid and non-hybrid vehicles together. I defended my point stating that the consumer may not think the same way, but ultimately, and so we asked Toyota to swap the Hybrid for a conventional Highlander instead.
Auto journalists may have cited Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive and Ford’s hybrid system superior to Honda’s IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) because the latter never runs on electric power alone. But after driving all these systems a few times, I think Honda may actually be onto something.
The IMA helps the combustion engine during acceleration, plain and simple. It doesn’t try to replace it, but like its name suggests, provides assistance. Take part of the load off the combustion engine when it works the hardest, and you’ll obviously save lots of gas.
Civic Hybrids and Insights can easily achieve a fuel consumption average of 5.0 L/100 km, so the system has proved its efficiency, despite not being able to impress your buddies by feathering the throttle and creeping away from street corners under battery power alone. It’s amusing, no doubt, but not as much when you realize there’s a line of cars behind you, and they don’t seem to be having as much fun as you are.
Any unusual driving behaviour during a 5-minute test drive around the dealership can scare off customers curious about hybrids. Besides the start/stop system, make it drive like a normal car, take out the brake regeneration system unless you can cure the awful pedal sensation, and call it a normal, fuel-efficient car. A hybrid system, or an electric-motor assist, could simply be called a Fuel Economy Package and added as a factory option.
We’ve been driving hybrids for ten years now; they might not be as effective in winter, but they seem to have proven their reliability. It’s time to stop treating the technology as something innovative and, until we get long-range EVs, integrate it into everyone’s lives as a normal powertrain.
Well, if that’s what people think of hybrids, stop calling them hybrids. Actually, don’t call them anything other than normal cars and trucks that offer great fuel economy.
I got this idea after an argument broke out at the office over an upcoming comparison test involving 7-passenger, V6-powered SUVs and crossovers. Yours truly had originally included a Highlander Hybrid Limited in the bunch, which will also include newcomers such as the Ford Explorer and Dodge Durango. My colleagues pointed out that you can’t compare hybrid and non-hybrid vehicles together. I defended my point stating that the consumer may not think the same way, but ultimately, and so we asked Toyota to swap the Hybrid for a conventional Highlander instead.
Auto journalists may have cited Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive and Ford’s hybrid system superior to Honda’s IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) because the latter never runs on electric power alone. But after driving all these systems a few times, I think Honda may actually be onto something.
The IMA helps the combustion engine during acceleration, plain and simple. It doesn’t try to replace it, but like its name suggests, provides assistance. Take part of the load off the combustion engine when it works the hardest, and you’ll obviously save lots of gas.
Civic Hybrids and Insights can easily achieve a fuel consumption average of 5.0 L/100 km, so the system has proved its efficiency, despite not being able to impress your buddies by feathering the throttle and creeping away from street corners under battery power alone. It’s amusing, no doubt, but not as much when you realize there’s a line of cars behind you, and they don’t seem to be having as much fun as you are.
Any unusual driving behaviour during a 5-minute test drive around the dealership can scare off customers curious about hybrids. Besides the start/stop system, make it drive like a normal car, take out the brake regeneration system unless you can cure the awful pedal sensation, and call it a normal, fuel-efficient car. A hybrid system, or an electric-motor assist, could simply be called a Fuel Economy Package and added as a factory option.
We’ve been driving hybrids for ten years now; they might not be as effective in winter, but they seem to have proven their reliability. It’s time to stop treating the technology as something innovative and, until we get long-range EVs, integrate it into everyone’s lives as a normal powertrain.