GreenHybrid - Hybrid Cars - View Single Post

RichC · #1 (**permalink**) 04-10-2006, 11:26 AM

One of the problems hybrid owners are facing is not the 'road rage' toward the slow poking, HOV lane hogging hyper-milers (see link), but from the automobile industry itself. Too many hybrid-lite vehicles are cropping up in the market and creating a false impression that because a car is a hybrid it is therefore 'green.'

I caught a segment on CNBC this morning (see link) that sort of brought this issue to light. I'm a pro-hybrid 'biodiesel' driver waiting patiently for my crack at a hybrid diesel, but I'm concerned that there is a trend toward performance oriented hybrid beasts and that manufacturers are in a rush to just slap on a battery pack and electric motor. (Okay ... so that's not exactly true ... but you get my point)

I think its great that hybrid technology is able to add boost to a monster truck or SUV in getting it some added torque while keeping the ICE a bit smaller, but just because it has "hybrid" on the sticker doesn't necessarily make it a 'green' vehicle. (a connotation by a significant number of automobile buyers) This was a concern that has popped up in a number of publications and was discussed on a CNBC interview. A closer look at 'cradle to grave' or 'dust to dust' aspect of 'some' hybrids was being argued, but many buyers are at least falling for the psychologically impression that their new hybrid is ecologically friendly. I'll not go so far as to side with the anti-hybrid guest in the interview, but he is right in that certain manufacturers are not doing the hybrid=green movement any favors.

Do hybrid advocates (like most here) believe it is important to make distinctions between vehicles and represent each manufacturer's hybrid technology and use in a responsible way?