Myths about Hybrid Vehicles

Since hybrid cars have been out on the market for several years now, there has been a lot of talk about the relative worth of one of these new market offerings.  Along with discussing the pros and cons of the hybrid, certain ideas have developed that are not always solidly based on reality.  There are no shortage of opinions of how good a buy a hybrid can be, but there are some basic things about the technology that a lot of people do not understand and get wrong.  Here are a few of the misconceptions you may have heard about hybrid sedans. Untested Engineering Hybrids are often considered “too new”, while in fact, a lot of similar engineering on multiple power sources was done as early as the turn of the twentieth century.  And others claim that hybrids are dangerous to first responders because of their high-powered batteries, but across the nation, problems with hybrids on the road are reported as minimal, and fire departments show confidence that with some basic training, their members can safely work with the new technology. The High Price Tag You may have heard that a hybrid is “just too expensive”, as many think that any specialized engineering carries its own value.  That’s generally true, but as popular models stay on the market, economy of scale has allowed the manufacturer to sell hybrid sedans for as low as just over $20,000, and models like the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic generally sell for under $30,000, making a hybrid just as affordable as some other sedans on the market.  Also, as production grows and demand increases, the prices will also fall into more affordable pricing areas. Specialized Care Another kind of 'made-up' concern people have about hybrids is how the battery system works.  A lot of folks think the hybrid needs to be “plugged in” to a home’s wall socket during the night, sucking loads of electricity from the grid and racking up gigantic utility bills.  Actually, a hybrid sedan as it’s now sold doesn’t have to be plugged in at all: the engineering allows for batteries to be charged during driving, and the hybrid process is self-contained, meaning there’s no need to supplement your car’s energy supply from home.  The plug-in models people keep referring to may have been seen while electric car technology was being developed on college campuses and other public venues. The other myth is that the batteries need to be replaced, like the ones in a flashlight or MP3 player.  But the idea that there are “throw-away batteries” under the hood of a hybrid is not very rational: that kind of technology wouldn’t sell.  The batteries in a hybrid carry a standard warranty for 80,000 to 100,000 miles: equaling half the life of many cars now in circulation.   Power Then there are those who say that an electrical car can never match the engine power of the traditional workhorse vehicle.  Considering that several hybrid vehicles now on market can reach up to the 300 HP mark, that can be filed under “hybrid myths” as well.  If that isn’t enough, the Gumpert Apollo Supercar, a racer from Denmark, has been estimated to get a staggering 800 HP from a hybrid engine, showing that when it comes to putting power under a hybrid hood, the sky’s the limit. Who buys Hybrids Sure, naysayers can point to “liberal elite” figures who parade their hybrid vehicles down Ventura and Sunset Boulevard, but that’s not enough to account for all of the hybrids sold each year.  Although you might hear people say that a hybrid vehicle is “just for celebrities” or some other ivory-tower sector of the population, in reality, there are compelling reasons for a diversity of buyers in the hybrid market.  Just consider the “Detroit meltdown” based on the U.S. auto industry’s failure to provide lean, fuel-efficient vehicles, and it’s clear hybrids are engineered based on a real need and not just the whims of Hollywood icons. To defuse all of these myths and learn more about hybrid technology, just visit the web sites of auto makers like Toyota and Honda, and look for the real scoop on how well these cars perform, and see why it’s a good bet the hybrid sector will keep growing to provide more energy-efficient cars in future model years.