Hybrid Car Production Getting Cheaper

Discussion in 'Technology' started by DoctorJones24, Oct 2, 2003.

  1. DoctorJones24

    DoctorJones24 Member

    Aug 26, 1999
    OH
    http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031002/tc_nm/autos_toyota_hybrid_dc_1

    "TOYOTA CITY, Japan (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp showed off the production site of its gasoline-electric hybrid cars to journalists for the first time on Thursday with a powerful message: they don't have to be expensive to make."

    Anybody have a hybrid here? I'm planning on getting one for my next car, but I'd like to wait until there's a bit more choice in models/sizes. I'd also like them to get the mileage rates a little better, as I've heard that the Civic Hybrid often averageds around 40 mpg, or less. I get mid 30s already in my Corolla.

    Anyone know when they plan to release Accord or RAV-4 hybrid models? I was assuming it would be in this new 2004 crop, but now I'm guessing 2005.
     
  2. DoctorJones24

    DoctorJones24 Member

    Aug 26, 1999
    OH
  3. Michael K.

    Michael K. Member

    Mar 3, 1999
    There or Thereabouts
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Good. Not great.

    Cheaper, less polluting cars are a mixed blessing. Yes, the fact that they don't burn up as much gasoline is good; but if they're perceived as 'harmless' to the environment (they aren't), then the danger is that there'll just be more and more cars on the road. And with that, more and more roads. And with that, more and more sprawl, more traffic, etc. We should be working on taking cars off the road, IMHO.

    What we need just as much as advances in hybrid auto technology is better, better-funded, more extensive mass transportation (urban and inter-city) that goes where people need to go. In the long run (here's the great sticking point), there will need to be some restructuring of cities and towns, hopefully bringing innovative approaches to higher-density living.
    I know that's a very contentious topic, but there are a lot of very bright people in this country (and around the world); if we took a fraction of the resources and brainpower we've put into innovating destruction and focused it on sustainable development (such a broad and fuzzy term) instead, perhaps we'd start moving a little further down the road.

    I was going to put something tangentially related to this on the Politics board tonight, but it may have to wait till tomorrow. Tonight's my birthday and I don't expect I'll be sober too much longer.
     
  4. Fah Que

    Fah Que Member

    Sep 29, 2000
    LA
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    People like cars.

    In downtown Taipei they built state of the art bullet train, which takes 30 minutes to get from one side of the city to the other (there are numerous stops in between) when it normally takes 2 hours. But but the only people who use them are students who don't have money or poor people. People rather drive their own vehicle and get stuck in traffic then taking public transportation. If people have cars, they drive on their own.
     
  5. amerifolklegend

    amerifolklegend New Member

    Jul 21, 1999
    Oakley, America
    Exactly.

    The only way you'll ever get people like me out of my car everyday and on the bus or train with the dirty people is to eliminate parking. Cities have entirely too much parking.

    Look at places in the US where mass transit is widely used. Let's take New York. You just can't park downtown. It ain't gonna happen. It's so inconvenient and expensive to park there because there aren't enough spaces available, so people opt to ride into the city out of need.

    Untill I can't get a space to park in, I ain't gonna get out of my SUV.
     
  6. FearM9

    FearM9 New Member

    Jul 14, 2000
    On my bike
  7. TheWakeUpBomb

    TheWakeUpBomb Member

    Mar 2, 2000
    New York, NY
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
  8. Alex_1

    Alex_1 Member

    Mar 29, 2002
    Zürich
    Club:
    Grasshopper Club Zürich
    Nat'l Team:
    Switzerland
    I wish I remember the link, but I don't. There is an electric car that was based off of I believe Honda CRX or Civic Del Sol platform, with a modified body that is being worked on from a group of engineers. This hybrid is a sort of "supercar" of electric cars, and is reported to really move - 0-60 in 3.8-4.2 seconds. It tops out at 100 MPH though - of course. The price tag? $200,000. No mistake about it, it's a custom job and really only for the collector that wants something no-one else has.

    The problem with the electric cars for the purists has been the general power factor. Simply put, if you step on the gas of one of the current generation Electric cars, you simply don't feel an exciting response from the car or the engine.

    I think that the Electric cars are just going to develop and get better and be an alternative. Will it make the current car obsolete? Not for a very long time and it hasn't dampened my appetite for an RX-8 or Z. But if they can add great performance to the cars then who knows?
     

Share This Page