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The next generation of vehicles

Date 11/6/2003 6:00 AM | Topic: Features

Imagine being able to drive from Decorah to Detroit without ever having to stop. Although you might not be able to handle it, there are cars on the road today that can.

Chris Schneider, president of Honda Motorwerks in La Crosse, recently came to Luther to give two presentations on vehicles that utilize hybrid technology. Schneider explained the concept of hybridization involves combining two or more things work better together than alone. The focus of his presentation was the fact that "there are energy efficient and environmentally friendly vehicles for people to be investing in today."

Schneider also discussed hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. These hydrogen-powered vehicles are ideal, since their only by-product is water. The hydrogen is able to power a vehicle for approximately 200 miles. Schneider pointed out the fact that "most of us don't drive more than 50 miles a day."

For most people's commuting needs, a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle would prove to be adequate. One major drawback of the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle is that there are so few fuel stations, and creating an extensive infrastructure would be tedious and costly. Schneider says that the technology will be available to the public in about ten years.

"Hybrids show us that we can eventually get there," he said.

In between now and then, the best option appears to be hybrid-electric vehicle (HEV) technology. The power plant of an HEV is a gasoline engine that works with an electric motor that runs on batteries.

"When you need more power," said Schneider, "the electric motor works in harmony with the gas engine, and when you need to slow down, it acts as a generator that is slowing the vehicle down and shipping that energy back where the Nickel Metal Hydride batteries are."

This brings up an important fact regarding HEVs: they never need to be plugged in. In fact, the license plates on Schneider's HEV, a 2000 Honda Insight, read "NO PLUG."

The batteries never have to be replaced and are charged through what is known as a "regenerative braking system." The regenerative braking system takes the energy that is normally lost during braking transfers it back to the batteries. In addition, the gasoline engine also helps run the electric motor as a generator to recharge the batteries.

HEVs have two main benefits. The most obvious is fuel economy. For the 2003 model year, the Insight with manual transmission is given a rating of 68 mpg for highway driving, and 61 mpg for city driving by Cars.com. In addition, Cars.com reports that the other HEVs currently available on the US market for the 2003 model year, the Honda Civic Hybrid and Toyota Prius, have fuel economies of 51 mpg highway/46 mpg city and 45 mpg highway/52 mpg city, respectively.

Higher fuel efficiency brings up some political issues. Schneider points out that the US spends $2 billion every week on oil that comes from other countries.

"Where would people like Saddam Hussein be if he was just [the ruler of] another third world country instead of somebody who is [or was] able to skim off that incredible amount of money stream that he has had?" said Schneider. "I think that we would be in a very different political situation."

HEVs also have low pollution. According to Schneider, the manual transmission Insight releases 84% fewer hydrocarbons than the typical 2000 model year car. He also provides the fact that the newest Insight, when coupled with an automatic transmission, releases 94% fewer hydrocarbons than the average car produced in 2000.

There are many common misconceptions regarding HEVs. One of the most prominent is that they need to be plugged in, but the aforementioned license plate certainly helps to dispel that myth.

Many people question the reliability of the HEV, especially since it utilizes such new and intricate technology. Both Toyota and Honda have put great faith into their HEVs. The Prius comes with a 100,000-mile warranty and Honda offers an eight-year, 80,000-mile warranty for both of their hybrids. The Insight that Schneider drives has over 100,000 miles.

Upon driving the car, it became quickly apparent that Honda's trademark reliability has carried over to this car. It ran extremely well and had a smooth ride. The same can be said of the 2003 Civic Hybrid and 2002 Prius, which were also test-driven.

"We have helped 90 people invest in hybrids, now," Schneider says. A couple of the cars his dealership has sold have over 80,000 miles, and one is in the 90,000-mile range.

Schneider says that only one HEV has ever been brought in on a tow hook to the dealership. The owner heard the sound of the backup conventional starter cranking when he turned the key (normally the electric motor starts the gasoline engine), and thought that something was wrong with his vehicle. The car did have some software bugs that needed to be fixed, but, like all HEVs, could have been driven on the conventional engine alone.

Another misconception is that HEVs are exorbitantly expensive. Actually, a new, fully loaded, automatic transmission Civic Hybrid ($21,000) costs less than the typical 2000 model year car did ($25,000) when it was new. The conventional Honda Civic for this year costs approximately $2500 less than does the Civic Hybrid.

Currently, a federal tax credit of $2000 is available to anyone who purchases an HEV.

"Unfortunately, it's going to go away," Schneider said, but added that new legislation may be passed to continue the current tax credit, or possibly even extend the incentives for purchasing an HEV.

In addition to the tax credit, owners save money because the maintenance costs for an HEV are less than that of a normal car.

One reason for this lower cost is that the brakes are used less. The electric motor, through its regenerative braking system, helps to slow the car. At first, this type of engine braking can feel somewhat strange, but is comparable in behavior to downshifting a conventional manual transmission car.

For the most part, HEVs drive just like conventional vehicles. When the car is brought to a stop, the gasoline engine actually shuts off. It becomes eerily quiet. There is no wasted fuel that is burned while the car is stopped, and at the same time it emits no greenhouse gases.

"To me, this is the most rewarding part of driving the vehicle," Schneider said.

The only downside of HEV systems is that the air-conditioning shuts off when the engine does. Selecting "MAX AC," which causes the engine to continue running even when stopped, can prevent this. The amount of fuel used overall is still substantially less than that used by a conventional vehicle.

Another common misconception is that HEVs are unsafe. People believe that because they are so small and lightweight that they are not crashworthy. To reduce weight, Honda uses aluminum wherever possible, and many of the body parts are plastic. The government gives it a four-star safety rating, which is one star away from the best possible rating.

"The Chrysler 300M," Schneider says, "is the largest piece of metal Chrysler builds in a car, and it only has a three-star rating."

Many people believe that HEV technology is not feasible for larger applications. Before making those assumptions, consider this: trains that weigh hundreds of thousands of tons do not run on their diesel engines. They are propelled by electric motors and powered by batteries that are charged by the diesel engines. If immense trains can run on batteries, there is no reason why SUVs cannot run on hybrid systems. Honda plans on having a hybrid version of their Pilot SUV and a hybrid minivan available by next fall.



Jon Nelson
News Editor

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