Hybrids do not cure cancer

When we are kids we are all taught to be good, be nice and listen to our elders. It is all so straight forward. Then as we get older we learn to question authority and think for ourselves. It gets more complicated. There are multiple sides on every issue. Every position has some merit. It takes time, effort and reflection to come to a position that is right for you.


I get worried when people take a position and there rationale is “ just because” , “isn’t it obvious to you” or my very favourite “if you are questioning me you must be against me ..... and for electrocuting baby bunnies”.

Why would you want to hurt me?

Picture from: http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://akosut.com/log/img/FLUFFY%2520BABY%2520BUNNY.jpg&imgrefurl=http://oygirl.wordpress.com/2009/06/&usg=__rhg2cfFZNzJJDweEhk0kFXez_7o=&h=309&w=404&sz=88&hl=en&start=1&itbs=1&tbnid=LYKjt5Rzj5eU0M:&tbnh=95&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbaby%2Bbunnies%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1

This is where I get nervous on the whole electric / hybrid car push. Yes, I recognize that oil is a limited commodity. Yes, I realize that exhaust is a bad thing. I also realize that there are a lot of questions around these vehicles that have not been answered and I realize that just because I am asking them I am worse than a pedophilic , Hitler loving mouthpiece for the big oil industrial complex. But these questions must be asked.

Hybrid cars are vehicles that have both gas and electric engines. The Toyota (Lexus) hybrid vehicles can run only on the electric engine when the battery has enough charge. All of the other hybrids are primarily gas powered and offer an electric boost when needed. (The Chevy Volt is another story. I’ll write more on it later)

The up side to a hybrid is that it goes further on a litre of fuel. This is no mean feat as the car is carrying a second power system and the batteries to power it. The thing that a lot of people don’t realize is that it gets good fuel economy, not great fuel economy. The Prius is rated at 51 mpg city and 48 mpg highway. In comparison the VW Golf TDI (Diesel) gets 30 mpg city and 41 mpg highway. While the Golf gets wore fuel economy, it is also $ 5 000 cheaper. You can save a lot of trees with $ 5 000.

The other advantage to a hybrid is that unlike a totally electric car your range is limitless. Just like a regular gas powered car you just fuel up and go. There is none of this charge for 12 hours to go 100 km stuff. We North Americans particularly like the idea of being able to hit the open road at a moment’s notice and drive off in to the sunset. This is a very romantic concept and not to mention a little silly. The average North American commute is 46 minutes, well within the range of most electric cars.

Now, keep in mind that the Prius achieves this fuel economy with an extra environmental impact of the creation of the batteries that fuel the electric motor. When the hybrid vehicle has reached the end of its usable life there is the added environmental impact of the disposal of these batteries.

The hybrids are also generally tied to the dealership for servicing. Most cars on the road have 12 volts running around under the hood. If a mechanic touches the wrong wire at the wrong time they get a shock, say a few choice words that would get them kicked out of Sunday school and get on with it. Under the hood of a hybrid you have 100 to 300 volts, quite like what you have in your wall socket. Grabbing the wrong thing there means the other people in the garage are going to spend a lot of time trying to scrub a sooty smudge off the back wall.

That’s gonna leave a mark!

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.eyeofhorus.org.uk/images/photo/10tennant/series-03/05-evolutiondaleks/pigs-elevator-electrocuted.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.eyeofhorus.org.uk/content/series-03/05-evolutionofthedaleks.html&usg=__QjtydSmKr4gJ-qWq033ZEHro94U=&h=306&w=500&sz=41&hl=en&start=10&itbs=1&tbnid=rcZq1RGn_wQosM:&tbnh=80&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Delectrocuted%26hl%3Den%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1

They can also cause some interesting problems in a traffic accident. Your average car has one twelve volt lead acid battery. Some of the big luxury cars have two so that they can keep all the gidits and gismos going. The typical hybrid has about 28 lithium batteries. This poses some interesting challenges for the firefighter trying to get you out of your wrecked hybrid. You have the issue of the electrical system, where is it safe to use the Jaws of Life? (see the bit above about mechanics being turned in to little piles of dust) There is also the question of what comes oozing out of a lithium ion battery in an accident. How dangerous is it? Yes I know that regular gas is not without inherent dangers IE: being flammable and toxic and possibly a carcinogen but these are risks that the firefighters are well aware of and have trained for.

A lot of the long term questions about the hybrids have yet to be answered. They have only been available here for about a decade and in the first few years sales were low. What is going to happen when those battery packs are out of warranty? In what new and interesting ways will the complex computer system that manages the power find to cost you money?

Now I am not saying that the hybrid car is evil. I just think that some of these ideas have not been completely thought out. The car makers are building them because people are buying them. If we as a society decided that cars should shoot confetti out the tail pipe there would be a race between the manufacturers to have the biggest and best confetti cannon. Popularity does not equal right, unless you are Barack Obama (remember do not look directly in to the Obama without proper eye protection the brilliance and awe may cause permanent damage) I believe that the consumers racing to buy every hybrid they can make are well intentioned but I don’t think they have a good vision of the options. Many of the new economy cars are getting good mileage and they do not require a new infrastructure. Diesels are a fantastic alternative that I will rave about in a later posting.

The technology that I have the most hope for is the hydrogen powered car. Hydrogen is one of the most plentiful elements in the universe and the current models produce water as an exhaust. There are hurdles with this technology as well: new infrastructure will have to be built to service it IE fuelling stations and service centres, producing hydrogen can take some effort and then there is that bad rap that hydrogen has had in the transportation world since the Hindenburg incident.

What I am saying is that new technology that is brought in to solve one problem often causes another one. Remember, the gasoline powered car was actually cleaner than the technology it replaced. IE we are not walking around with our feet covered in horse shit.