When Toyota
released the Prius in 1997, even when it only happened on the Japanese
market, everybody was dumbfounded. Most of the car manufacturers have
completely missed the development, except Audi, whose 100 Duo did not
go beyond the test phase, and Honda, who managed to beat Toyota to the
punch on the United States market by releasing the Insight just a month
ahead of the archrival. Nevertheless, Toyota wound up selling more
hybrid cars than Honda, actually than anyone else in business.
Interestingly enough, not everyone is all happy about the new move
towards hybrids. Some are even downright skeptic that this move is
worth the public relations money thrown at it at light speed. While
several companies are considering jumping aboard the hybrid downtown
train, some others abandoned the idea altogether and went for some
alternate concept, like all electric or fuel cell technology. Honda,
for instance, is not following Toyota towards the full range hybrid
option, but invests heavily into the fuel cell technology, with some
groundbreaking innovations. The problem people have is that the reason,
touted by the public relations people and funded with incentives and
subsidies by governments, for the allegedly more environment friendly
vehicles of the future. But the numbers don't lie and most of the
hybrid cars do not provide a better fuel efficiency or lower emissions
than, for instance, a common diesel engined car. While the internal
combustion engine hybrids are less than the promised savior of the
environment, some hybrids are just simply fakes. For instance, the so
called mild hybrid, although touted as "green", is anything but. The
electric motor is there only to boost the performance of a regular
internal combustion engine, which makes it a, for lack of a better
comparison, turbocharger. Recognizing that the cat may come out of the
sack at some point, the waters got a little bit more muddied by the
many versions of hybrids flooding the market. A plug-in hybrid is
actually an electric car with the internal combustion engine as a
backup charger. While this seems to be the most honest version of a
combustion engine and electric motor hybrid around, a much better idea
is the diesel engine and electric motor solution, providing the best of
both worlds combined. Add to this a plug-in option, and you have a
winner. At this point the fuel cell technology kicks in, where instead
of the combustion engine a hydrogen powered energy delivering
concoction really reduces exhaust fumes. A step further goes the
pressured air electric car. While we are at it, why not go fully
electric right away? Perhaps it is best if you just keep your current
car, until everybody calms
down a bit.

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