http://autos.aol.com/article/opinion...isten-to-them/

But what consumers say in surveys is very often the exact opposite of how they behave in a new car showroom. People say they want better fuel economy, but when it comes time to choose between paying an extra $3,000 for a hybrid system or getting a bigger car with heated leather seats and a Bose sound system, their dreams of driving green often evaporate.

 

It's hard to justify the additional cost of the hybrid version of certain models when the payback period is so long.

 

The survey is flawed.
The question should be what are you willing to give up in your driving experience to get 60 mpg.
Give up size?,acceleration?,cost?,comfort?,safety?,etc..

 

This.

Isnt there a hefty tax rebate or some government incentive for a hybrid car? Or is that EVs?

 

The point that the article is trying to make is that people would rather spend the same amount of money on a non-hybrid with leather seats and better audio system than on a hybrid without leather seats and base audio system.

Plus there are hybrids on sale, such as Lincoln MKZ and Buick LaCrosse, that cost the same as the non-hybrids. People still don't chose hybrids ...

 

While people do not generally go from driving a 12mpg car to a 60 mpg one, the trend is there and it is not going away. It is a shift that is happining steadily over time. Hybrids are unquestionably more popular than they were 10 years ago, and they will be even more so in the future. Times are changing and the cars of the near future will contribute to an overall environment that is radically different than the 80s and 90s. This is the time where we will start seeing real lasting change.

 

True, especially given the long range economic thinking of the populi Americana, i.e., about two paychecks into the future.

Personally, I think advanced diesels make a bit more sense than highly complex hybrids, especially in the real world. I shiver to think what it would take to keep hybrids north of 100K miles running reliably whereas diesels are just getting broken in at this mark.

Inevitably though, fuel/energy prices will inexorably get more and more costly and that might get even profligate Americans to look a bit more seriously at ways to save at the pump.

 

I'm not really sure this would happen. Days of non-turbo diesels from the 1980s are long gone. They were very slow, but also very reliable and economical. I have a '85 Volkswagen Golf 1.6L diesel with close to 500,000 km (~310,000 miles) on the odometer. Before I gave it to my aunt to drive it I was averaging easily 55 mpg in city driving. But it doesn't have a turbo, so it's producing only ~55 hp.
My newer Volkswagen is a '02 Golf 1.9L diesel. It's much more powerfull thanks to turbo (100 hp), but it's nowhere as economical (~45 mpg). However, my biggest concern is the reliability. It was imported from Germany earlier this year and Germans in general take the best care of their cars. I had few issues with turbo at 180,000 km (~110,000 miles) and I can tell you right now there is no way it will last as long as '85 Golf. I give it maybe at the most another 100,000 km (60,000 miles) before engine will have to be replaced.
Don't get me wrong, diesels are very realiable to the certain point, but don't expect to drive them 200,000 miles without any issues.

 

I think the answer is to build a small on board diesel generator to recharge batteries that run the electric motors. That way an EV is no longer limited in range. Recharge in the garage at night from the grid, run electric with existing wheel gens to recharge, then use the 2-3 cyl diesel gen that runs on anything from kerosene to coal oil to biofuel to recharge. Mix and match. Prob approach 100mpg...
That system runs our locomotives.

 

Exactly! That is why frieght can be sent long distance and it uses far less fuel than semi's. It makes me mad to see all the trucks on the highway when there is a better way. I suppose dock to dock plays a role but it is so much more economicial.

 

Better way for who? Sure, for companies, but not for thousands of truck drivers who make their living that way.

 

I'm thinking that private cars are the wrong place to start with electric vehichles. The best way to get penetration to an infrastructure is to switch municipal/city/government vehicles over. These cars and trucks are on the road constantly, day in day out. They would need to plug in practically every time they stop. They way the gasoline engine and gas stations grew togeather won't be able to be replicated. It's a circular argument about electric vehicles and it's infrastructure. You can't build the plugs, beacuase nobody has the cars, but nobody is going to buy the cars if they don't have places to plug in.

 

One of my cousins is in Stockton CA working for a company that is converting UPS & Fedex delivery trucks to all electric. So you may be right that this is the way to get started.

 

Interesting. Fleet and rentals would be great to spur infrastructure too.

 

I don't know about full-electric vehicles. Living in southern CA where blackouts during hot summers is expected, I shiver at the thought of a large percentage of vehicles also adding to the strain on the grid.

I think the problem here is that we need MULTIPLE solutions for vehicles. There are FAR too many vehicles on the road for any ONE system to work. There is just too much strain on that one resource (being fuel, electricity, etc.) and no matter what, it will cause problems over time.

In this respect, hybrids help because it "shares the load" so-to-speak. And, I agree, consumer vehicles is the wrong place to start. Government vehicles, distribution/shipping vehicles and taxi's (where vehicles are not driven for pleasure) seem to be the most effective starting point.

But, to the OP, what people say in these polls, and usually unrelated, as the polls never seem to reflect the entirety of the decision process. Sure, I would like 60MPG out of my Mustang. I would also want 650hp, 2,800# body weight, I want it to ride like Mercedes around town, and set the fastest 'Ring lap ever, plus cost $5,000.....