Hybrid Cars: What do you think?

[mustangdriver]

Try picking up girls in a Prius.

[JohnH]

I think they are great, but yeah what happens in a few years when you have to replace the battery? My 15 year old escort now has 200, 000 miles, has had a lot of maintenance the past few years but how many expensive battery packs would that be on a prius?

John

[airnutz]

I think they are great, but yeah what happens in a few years when you have to replace the battery? My 15 year old escort now has 200, 000 miles, has had a lot of maintenance the past few years but how many expensive battery packs would that be on a prius?

As I understand the subject, most battery packs are warrantied for 8-10 years 100K miles and whole battery pack
failures would be a rare event. They are modular affairs and a defective module is simply replaced...
notably upgraded with a later generation battery of the same type.

Complete battery replacement has been quoted as costing about $5000, and I suspect as the technolgy
becomes more popular the price will probably be lower.

I was reading some of the hybrid/electric blogs and webpages recently and seeing 300K+ miles on the older
hybrid Honda's and Toyota's without major repair is not unusual.

I don't think we'll be trading our duallys or pick-ups anytime soon. But, the idea is to get the work trucks back to be just that and getting the soccer moms and pseudo cowboys back into more fuel efficient vehicles.


Several times in the past 20 years there were attempts to remove the "work truck" EPA exemption in order
to get the "soccer mom gas-guzzlers" out of the picture. This was resisted by the manufacturers who were selling
these guzzlers and the public who were enamoured with an image of status and/or implied safety idea of bigger is
better.

Correct me if I'm remembering incorrectly, but wasn't there some legislation back in the 90's which
would've imposed more stringent EPA mileage requirements for SUV's and such, but it fizzled with a threat
from one of the presidents that such legislation would cost Americans jobs and he would vetoe it?

Funny thing...When some leaders try to look forward with economizing resources, the public whines about
government/Greenie interference. When $hit hits the fan..then everyone lines up in queue asking, "Where was the Gub'mint?"

I want one of these little buggers in a few years for long trips/camping etc. and leave the workbox at home...touted 300mpg..
www.aptera.com/details.php

Europe has a pretty good system for recycling batteries..I believe they're building some of their new batteries
from 60-80% recycled batteries and materials.
I'll try to dig up a website later tonight explaining their process a bit better.

The question has been brought up...Would you burn the remaining petro-resources mining "reusable" materials,
or would you rather burn it one time and lose it out the tailpipe?

Last edited by airnutz on Wed Jul 02, 2008 11:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Cvairwerks]

I remember the legistation you are talking about. I belive it got whacked because it created a bigger problem than it solved. If I remember correctly, it would have pushed all light trucks under 12,000 GVW or so, to adhere to the same fuel economy standards as full size cars. Can you imagine the garbage that the manufacturers would have to hang on a F350 class dually to make it get 20+ mpg in town? Forcing that kind of economy on them would have pushed a lot of people into the 450 and larger trucks to be able to handle the same workloads as what they were used to doing with the 250/350 class trucks. Don't think the manufacturers would have cared really, other than the megabuck outlay to meet the new standards.

I know the Class 8 engine builders were really sweating getting their engines approved for the emission regs that went into effect last year. I think Cat got theirs approved and in the pipeline about 5 months before the drop dead date. The others had even less pad time.

[airnutz]

If I remember correctly, it would have pushed all light trucks under 12,000 GVW or so, to adhere to the same fuel economy standards as full size cars. Can you imagine the garbage that the manufacturers would have to hang on a F350 class dually to make it get 20+ mpg in town?

Ahhh..true that wouldn't be good. Legislators dreamed up the wrong way round the problem. The idea is to preserve agricultural/commercial/worker exemption, but dissuade the use of the exemption in common passenger vehicle usage.

I guess it's "survival of the fittest" at $4-$5 a gallon. The casuals will weed-out pretty quick. Tho...pretty rough on those of us who rely on these vehicles to make a living.

[tom d. friedman]

the prius is fugly, but that is minor. what i don't like is the fact that the hybrid is way over priced, & being new technology, the type is prone to glitches & bugs in it's operation. until they iron out the bugs..... i'll stick to my 2008 honda civic lx coupe for now. it has a 5 speed stick, & i can tweak near 40 miles per gallon with that rice rocket!!! costs about 35 bucks to fill.

[Cvairwerks]

It wasn't the prospect of higher fuel prices that weeded us out of buying a new truck, but rather the overall cost of acquisition. I just couldn't bring myself to getting serious about dropping $50K on a new pickup. We're holding off until after the first of the year and will most likely buy a used Class 8 truck and derate the weight limits towards what our needs are. I can buy the truck, double or triple the sleeper size and put all new rubber on it and still be under half the cost of a new crew cab dually. We don't need the truck that often for pulling our big trailer, but when we go, we need the space and load capability, so it's not a problem if it gets driven once a month or so. Also, even though fuel economy is going to be in the 6-9 mpg range, by the time a new, properly equiped truck was paid for, I could drive the used one for at least 30K miles.

[Jack Frost]

Ahhh..true that wouldn't be good. Legislators dreamed up the wrong way round the problem. The idea is to preserve agricultural/commercial/worker exemption, but dissuade the use of the exemption in common passenger vehicle usage.

I guess it's "survival of the fittest" at $4-$5 a gallon. The casuals will weed-out pretty quick. Tho...pretty rough on those of us who rely on these vehicles to make a living.

Is it correct that in Texas if you say your vehicle is to be used in your work or business, you don't have to pay sales tax on the purchase? Many people interpret that to include driving it to and from their workplace so they should get the tax exemption. If so, this actually encourages buying a gashog for a daily driver! IMHO

[67N20]

I work at a Toyota dealer and we have never replaced a battery in a Prius.
There was a recall on the first generation Prius's that required removal of the
hybrid battery and "sealing" it to prevent "seepage".

[mustanglover]

Is it correct that in Texas if you say your vehicle is to be used in your work or business, you don't have to pay sales tax on the purchase? Many people interpret that to include driving it to and from their workplace so they should get the tax exemption. If so, this actually encourages buying a gashog for a daily driver! IMHO

Naw, never heard of it that way.

Actually here in Texas we get a tax exemption just for buying a truck, the bigger the truck, the bigger the exemption.

[RyanShort1]

Well, things are changing - even in TX. A few years ago Toyota moved in and built a HUGE plant a few miles from Cannon Field where I fly. This past week they announced that they're relocating all Tundra production here - but not until after they've shut the plant down for three months due to slow sales. I think that there's going to be a serious trend towards more efficient vehicles very soon or car makers will be in serious trouble. Toyota is well-known for it's lean thinking and staying competitive and I suspect they've got a good tab on what's happening.

Ryan

[Cvairwerks]

They build the Tundra at two plants here in the US and the plan is to consolidate the production at San Antonio. The other plant is going to be retooled for Prius production. They are pretty serious about keeping the SA crew happy and working....the published reports are that they are going to use the crews to do the reconfig work in the plant, and also devote considerable time to training.