10 Hybrid Car Myths

1. You need to plug in a hybrid car. Once the word “electricity” is spoken, you think of plugs and wall sockets. But today’s hybrid cars don’t need to be plugged in. Energy commonly lost when a vehicle is slowing down or stopping is reclaimed and conveyed to the hybrid’s rechargeable batteries. The gas engine is also used to send energy to the batteries. The process is automatic, so no special requirements are placed on the driver.

2. Hybrid batteries need to be replaced. Expensive replacement of a hybrid car’s batteries continue to bother many potential buyers. Those worries are unfounded. By keeping the charge between 40 percent and 60 percent—never fully charged, yet never fully drained—carmakers have greatly lengthened the longevity of nickel metal hydride batteries.

3. Hybrids are a new phenomenon. American car companies developed steam, electric, and gasoline cars in almost equal numbers back in the 1900’s. It wasn’t long before engineers figured out that various sources of power could be combined. Ferdinand Porsche produced the first known hybrid gas-electric prototypes…in 1900. In 1905 American engineer H. Piper filed the first patent for a gas-electric hybrid vehicle.

4. People buy hybrids only to save money on gas. Although Hybrid cars top the list of the most fuel-efficient vehicles on the road, going farther on a gallon of gas is a logical advantage of a hybrid car. But as critics of hybrid technology point out, those savings rarely add up to the extra cost of buying a hybrid over a comparable conventional vehicle. If it’s not to save money, then why are more shoppers going hybrid? Many reasons: To minimize their impact on our environment, to help reduce the world’s need for oil, and to earn technology bragging rights. Who was the first on your block to own a colour TV? Who will be the first on the block to drive a hybrid?

5. Hybrids are expensive. Hybrids are currently available in 15 different models ranging in price from $22,000 to $103,000. ( in 2006) The most efficient models—the Honda Civic and Toyota Prius — are available well below $30,000.

6. Hybrids are small and underpowered. The Lexus Rx400h and Toyota Highlander Hybrid both share the same 270 horsepower system. The Lexus GS 450h hybrid sedan exceeds 300 horsepower and will go from 0 to 60 mph in under six seconds. And the Toyota Volta concept is a 408-horsepower scream machine.

7. Only liberals buy hybrids. The long list of celebrity hybrid drivers includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, and Larry David. They zing around Hollywood in their Priuses and appear on talk shows passing on the virtues of hybrid vehicles. These celebrities were primarily motivated by the environmental benefits. As a result, they created an easy target for naysayers to classify all hybrid drivers as tree-huggers.

8. Hybrids pose a threat to first responders. Now that hundreds more hybrid cars are on our roads each day, some critics have concerns if public safety agencies should be worried about all those high-voltage battery packs moving along at freeway speeds. Yes and no. The first responder has to make rapid technical decisions about how to safely remove the passengers from the vehicle. Unfamiliar hybrid technology can slow things down. So, it’s the worry about potential dangers—when and where to cut power—than the system itself that can cause a problem.

9. Hybrids will solve all our transportation, energy, and environmental problems. In the past seven years hybrid sales in the US grew from 9,500 in 2000 to 350,000 in 2007.

10. Hybrid technology is only a fad. Hybrid technology is often compared to fuel cells, diesel engines, and/or hydrogen as the silver bullet way to sustainable mobility. The biggest hope and investment is in hydrogen fuel cells, which appear to be decades away from commercialization. The failure of hydrogen-powered cars to appear, rapidly underscores the risk of focusing on just one solution.