News on hybrid vehicles, fuel cell cars, and the future of automobiles

8 Responses to “How can hybrid, electric, and hydrogen powered vehicles affect the economy?”

1. idisaprove says:

   January 15, 2010 at 8:28 am

   As far as I’m concerned hydrogen cars are H bombs on wheels.
   References :
2. redjalepeno says:

   January 15, 2010 at 8:38 am

   Look up the costs of the AFV’s vs. normal gas cars. Also, the change in where the money goes – away from middle eastern, oil country’s.
   References :
3. Engineer-Poet says:

   January 15, 2010 at 8:53 am

   Consider the total US sales of cars like the Prius and Honda Civic hybrid.  If these vehicles average e.g. 50 MPG compared to ~30 MP for their comparable non-hybrid cousins, and the average annual mileage is around 12,000 (typical for US drivers), you can calculate the annual fuel savings.

   For an interesting twist on the report, calculate the fuel savings for different years (2001-2007) as the hybrid fleet grew.  Contrast the savings to the oil production projected from ANWR, the Bakken formation, etc.

   Edit:  James E is flat wrong (see second link).  He posts this same false claim in multiple answers, so I suggest reporting him.
   References :
   Petroleum consumption figures for the USA since 1949:
   http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/txt/ptb0511.html

   Electric demand for PHEV fleet:
   http://www.pnl.gov/news/release.asp?id=204
4. SilentDoGood says:

   January 15, 2010 at 9:27 am

   If this car gets into production, the gas companies will not exist. The gas and oil companies will invest in this new technology to adjust to the loss of gas sales.
   References :
   http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/354/C8115/
5. James E says:

   January 15, 2010 at 9:35 am

   Without at least doubling the electric generating capacity of the country it will not be possible to put many of these cars on the road without massive black outs!
   References :
6. Andy says:

   January 15, 2010 at 10:09 am

   There are many positive effects of using a Hybrid Vehicle.
   One common misconception about many hybrid vehicles is that you need to plug in a hybrid vehicle to charge it. This is not true. Many hybrid vehicles charge by themselves using an energy regenerating flywheel which charges the battery when the car is stopping. And if the battery does run out then the engine charges the battery. But this is still not a large impact because the engine never has a need to kick in and charge the engine because the flywheel is incredibly efficient. I own a Toyota Highlander Hybrid and I would not change to another vehicle because the Highlander is amazing.

   Hydrogen is type of fuel that is not the most efficient due to the fact that it takes more energy to produce, compress and then transport the hydrogen than the amount that you would save by switching to hydrogen. But I believe in a few years we will be able to make this a more cost efficient type of fuel. And to point out to the guy above, it is impossible for a hydrogen car to be a bomb because there is no way that you would get enough energy to split the hydrogen particles and make a hydrogen explosion.

   Electric cars are an effective source of transport. And to also point out, you can not crash the electrical grid by plugging them in. Sure, a lot of people may buy them, but there will never be enough cars on the grid to make the grid crash.

   To answer your questions about the economics, by making a move to buy more hybrid vehicles, or, I’m not sure about this so don’t quote me, subsidizing a overhaul of all vehicles in the country to give them all hybrid engines (not sure about this), the country would save a huge amount of money. This is because people would not be spending as much money on gas and the government would not have to spend as much money fixing negative externalities such as pollution.
   
   References :
   I was looking on the internet for stuff you could use:
   Really good article about how hybrids will help the economy:
   http://www.obitet.gazi.edu.tr/makale/internalcombustionengines/046.pdf
   About hybrids:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_vehicles
   electric vehicle:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car
   hydrogen vehicle:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_vehicle

   hope this helps
7. vicinic says:

   January 15, 2010 at 10:34 am

   hybrids do not save fuel in all cases, in some they consume more fuel. Its all about weight kiddies. The Prius saves fuel by recovering energy from braking. If you don’t use brakes, like on the hiway, you are lugging around a bunch of dead weight in batteries and electric motors. The added cost for a hybrid over a small car is not worth the investment. For the $8,000 premium of a Prius, I can 150,000 miles in my 45 mpg car, which is like free gasoline!!!
   References :
8. HybridGuy says:

   January 15, 2010 at 10:43 am

   I research and write articles for several eco-friendly blogs and websites including http://www.hybrid-cars.org (where you can get some answers). Some of my best resources for information are online versions of auto and green magazines. Here would be my recommendations for sources on these vehicles:

   1. Living Green Magazine might be your best resource. Here are two good articles I found:

   http://www.livinggreenmag.com/energy.html
   http://www.livinggreenmag.com/clean_fuels.html

   2. How hybrid vehicles effect the economy:

   http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/environment/2008-05-11-hybrids-gas-prices_N.htm

   3. How electric cars effect the economy:

   http://blogs.motortrend.com/6275401/editorial/energy-independence-can-we-do-it/index.html

   4. How hydrogen powered cars effect the economy:

   http://www.motortrend.com/features/editorial/112_0806_technologue/index.html

   Hope this helps. You can also search Google for phrases like: eco-friendly vehicles economy magazine
   References :