Comments on: Episode 14 — Hybrid Cars

By: Aaron Cake

Aaron Cake — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:46:55 +0000

Everyone always forgets the Honda Insight, the first hybrid available to the public. Mine is 8 years old at this point yet still returns between 65 and 75 MPG city, and above 85 MPG highway. After a 200KM highway drive it’s not unusual to see mileage in the low to mid 90s.

The podcast was a decent listen though. Just found it randomly through a Google search and gave me something to listen to while I OCR’d about 85 pages. But you’re the first person I’ve ever heard refer to NiMH as “nickle metal hydrogen”.

By: The Hybrid Cars Site

The Hybrid Cars Site — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 09:53:09 +0000

Hi,

Hybrid cars from my opinion will be the best technology in Automotive world. Why? Don’t forget the minimum pollutants, and the minimum noise! As it is said “It is an environmental friendly!”. Not only so, but the hybrid cars technology still under developments. I’m sure in just few years, all the current problems which appear in the current hybrid cars vehicles will dis-appear. In addition it is NOT fair to compare Prius by the GM Hummer. As I said, hybrid cars technology still in the first phase. Many developments will be carried out on hybrid cars vehicles.

By: Dany

Dany — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:18:45 +0000

Hello,

I discovered your site relatively there about a month
I find your blog very interesting.
Continues.
In my opinion contains information very good.

By: Dr. Al

Dr. Al — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:52:24 +0000

With all of the fuzzy science surrounding hybrids and EVs, it certainly bodes very well for those who want to cling to the duplicity of the big oil and automaker’s PR spinmasters, but personally it offends me to have to pay the extortionist current gasoline prices. So, I cut to the chase. See http://www.physicslablh.com/futureDesign.htm

By: Dave Jones

Dave Jones — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 08:17:33 +0000

Just found your site & I love it.
Especially the episodes, Keep it up..
I’ll keep coming back.

Dave

By: car fanatic

car fanatic — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 19:10:19 +0000

hybrid cars are the future.i see them everywhere.

By: Sam Wise

Sam Wise — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 04:53:33 +0000

FYI — just wanted to point out that I just uploaded a new post, attempting to bring our little discussion to the attention of other readers (who may not make a point of looking at comments). It’s right here.

By: Sorting Out Science » Blog Archive » Googlediving, hybrid vehicles, and energy consumption

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 02:57:12 +0000

[...] recent thread of discussion (namely, some comments on the hybrid cars podcast episode) brings me to remind you of the wisdom of cross-checking ostensibly “scientific” things [...]

By: darek

darek — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 20:18:07 +0000

Sam,
I like the ideas of environmental friendly vehicles very much. The Prius is first significant step forward but there is still lots of work to be done. I have to admit that conspiracy theories are appealing to me so did the article I’ve mentioned. According to recent research made in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) 40% of air pollution in the city is generated by 10% of cars older than 10 years. Another problem are SUV’s which will get over here very high tax next year. The Netherlands is flat country with no place where you will not get to with ordinary car. My point is that next to developing new green vehicles we could save on pollution by eliminating unnecessary waist of fuel by cars with oversized engines, solving traffic congestion problems etc.
The battery from Prius is pollutant in manufacturing then again by replacing even after 10 years of use. I can imagine that 10 years old Prius with death battery will be also waisted because cost of replacing the battery will be higher than new car.

By: Sam Wise

Sam Wise — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 14:15:58 +0000

darek,

When I run across items like this (with dramatic and counter-intuitive “findings”), I’ve found it helpful to do a little opposition research for perspective. A few minutes of google work dug up some information that tends to cast doubt on the link you cite:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/kp8ll

http://preview.tinyurl.com/3axxzv

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNW_Marketing_Research

http://www.cleanairnet.org/transport/1754/articles-69297_resource_1.pdf

Short version: this article was written on the basis of a shaky study, by a reclusive shop — no peer review, all source data & methods under wraps as “proprietary.” Lots of room for cherry picking and other mischief in this approach to doing business. The first clue is the 300k mile lifetime for the hummer, vs. the 100k mile lifetime for the Prius (that’s the lifetime for the battery pack, not the car as a whole).

Still, it’s good to see people looking at life-cycle costs. The last link, BTW, is a more thorough look by an MIT group at life cycle costs of various vehicles — not a fast read, but interesting when you have time to dig through the details.