How stupid can you get?

The use of large hybrid vehicles instead of small ones means more fuel for someone else. Building them 5 years too late is the stupid part.

It's stupid because the same amount of useful work could be done with a low displacement diesel hybrid. getting three or four times the mpg and consuming much less - energy intensive - time to manufacture.

Let's do both. Build big hybrids and bitch about them as well. While we're at it, for those monster trucks that are used for urban use, tax the hell out of them. It's a cold day in hell when I see a truck around here with anything actually in the bed.

Men with tiny penius want to drive the biggest vehicle they can afford to finance.

Then there are some of us that don't have that problem.

Humm, so we should tax trucks that can do usable work but gas guzzling minivans and sports cars that serve no purpose are fine?

Joseph. I agree with your proposal. But then that would require congress to recognize that we actually have a problem.

PeeNus?

No thanks. I already got one.

Why bother with Durango? WW2 German Tiger tank was gasoline series hybrid too. Very safe vehicle indeed.

And by the way, the bigger the vehicle, the less hybrid drivetrain contribute to it efficiency. It is the same laws of physics which explain why elephant could not jump.

It is hard to make people face reality (and buy sensible vehicles for their needs) when the real issue is that the government simply does not tax fuel at the same level as Europe or some other parts of the world. It has suggested by several people in Washington DC that the true cost of gasoline in the US is really about $7 per gallon when you consider military and national security costs.

Oh and i missed this one the first time through

"I do not have the right to own a machine gun, because I do not have a legitimate need for one"

Not sure where you live, but if you're in the US, you can own a machine gun in most states.
Aj

AJ? I know you dont like this truck but come on....

you said $5000 to $10000 premium for this option? Where did you get that from? It's going to be far less then that. So we dont get to take the tax credit for this into account but we do for the Prius and the Civic?

You figured 150,000 miles. That is less then number of miles most people say you need to drive a civic hybrid to make the difference. I figure before the tax rebate it will cost $4000, take around 100,000 miles to pay off. Total guess but I think it would get at least $2000 credit its gonna pay off quite fast.

Faster then the Prius, Civic hybrid or the Escape.

It should be pointed out that complaining about certain vehicle types has never had an impact on their success or failure rate. Free market economics dictates those trends in this country, to the eternal chagrin of the complainers. But the American people are hungry for these new technologies and are willing to pay extra for them, e.g. the success of the hybrid Prius, Insight, Civic, etc. It's easy to point out the imperfect side of the free market economy, but keep in mind that currently these technologies are the hottest thing going in new vehicles. This could not be said ten years ago, or even five, and is EPIC in the history of vehicle development. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth so to speak. Average mileage per gallon of commonly purchased mainstream production vehicles is surging, saving millions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, not to mention millions of real dollars. In addition, sales of SUV's ARE dropping, and demand for used SUV's has declined dramatically in the last two years. Americans are making more practical decisions in terms of their vehicles and those that buy larger ones are wanting better fuel economy. All good things.

It's not true that larger vehicles don't benefit as much from hybrid technologies. In fact, they benefit equally. Most of the improved fuel economy from hybrid electrics is from energy recaptured during braking. This energy source is available on all vehicles, large or small. (The biggets impact on fuel economy is the driving cycle of the vehicle. A lot of city driving yields a lot of braking events compared to highway driving where regenerative braking events are rare. That's why hybrids get poorer mileage on the highway, reversing the commonly known city/highway mpg read.) One of the most booming areas in hybrid electric vehicles is in city busses. A typical hybrid electric city bus will get 50 - 100% better fuel economy and will have up to five times improved brake pad life. Since brake pads are the largest maintenance item on heavy trucks, this has significant impact on overall vehicle maintenance costs.

The real limitations on hybrid electric vehicles have been and still are the batteries. The batteries are improving but have a long way to go before full advantage can be taken of the hybrid concept. This has caused parallel hybrids to go to market first, with lower battery requirements. A series hybrid is much more efficient and will eventually replace the current parallel hybrids, but requires better batteries. The battery situation is currently stunting the technology uptake, but those in the know are nearly on top of the issue. Nickel metal hydride batteries will get replaced with high power lithium-ion, perhaps with a small helping of ultracapacitors. A fully optimized hybrid SUV would likely get 40 plus mpg and have better torque and lower maintenance costs. This is a few years, or more, out. Until then we are stuck with 25% to 50% improved fuel economy with the weak-hybrid, or mild-hybrid that dominates currently.

It is true that deisel is much more efficient than gasoline and this is inherent in the thermodynamics of the engine cycle and the burning temperatures involved. Deisel can be sooty and smelly, tainting its image. With improved fuel processing and emissions controls, its much better. Deisel is a very promising combination with hybrid technology for ultra good fuel economy. For example, in 1996 Chrysler built the Intrepid ESX hybrid concept car. 3-cylinder deisel motor, series hybrid, advanced battery pack. 200 hp, huge torque and very low zero to sixty - with over 70 mpg! The battery was again the issue, so back to the drawing board for 10 years. Once the battery situation is fixed, hybrids will be even more powerful in the market.

In terms of impact, improved batteries hitting the market will truely enable hybrid technologies. At that same moment however, the problems with purely electric vehicles will be solved as well. The "plug-in-hybrid" will become the norm, and visiting the gas station will be relegated to preparations for a long overland trip. Hybrid electric (and other electric) technology will have serious longevity in heavy trucking, revolutionizing the industry. The hybrid electric craze is only a way-point on the general trend of "vehicle electrification" which will not end there. All of it being a benefit to the environment by lowering the CO2 footprint of mainstream vehicles. This whole concept of CO2 footprint is not entirely lost on Americans and it is now a serious force in the market. Only time will tell how much...