Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Hybrid car technology takes wrong turn


The most innovative automotive technology to come down the road in recent years seems to have taken a wrong turn just as it was picking up speed.

And to add one more metaphor: The hybrid car seems headed for a dead end as an instrument of fuel conservation.

The reason why?

It's spelled and sounds like Vrrroooom!

The alternating gasoline-electric power system of a hybrid car is designed to save gasoline and improve mileage. Yet, manufacturers are now succumbing to the inescapable American hunger for speed.

The result is that fuel savings are shrinking in new hybrids while zero-to-60 mph acceleration is increasing to satisfy drivers who've forgotten about gasoline prices—and want speed and power.

It's all very discouraging to those who'd hoped hybrids would provide American drivers with a way to put the nation on the road to sensible fuel conservation and to reduce its dependence on foreign oil.

Making matters worse, government tax credits for purchasing hybrid cars now in force may become more generous. President Bush last month mentioned a $4,000 tax credit per car as an incentive to pump up sales of hybrids.

Today's newest hybrids are not the fuel-stingy creations many had hoped.

For example, Consumer Reports found that a new Honda Accord hybrid averaged 25 miles per gallon—only slightly better than the 24 miles per gallon for a standard four-cylinder model and the 23 miles per gallon of a non-hybrid V-6.

The Alliance to Save Energy concluded new hybrids are marketed for their power and acceleration, not fuel conservation.

With automakers abandoning the original dream for hybrid technology to the unregulated demands of the marketplace, what has been true all along is being validated once again.

The only true fuel conservation system that works is a government-mandated, rigidly enforced fuel-mileage standard that automakers build into their cars. It's been 30 years since those standards were set. No changes have been made since.

The average car now weighs 750 pounds more than the average in 1987 and is more powerful. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that if today's cars had the same weight and acceleration as those in 1987, the nation could achieve a 20 percent improvement in fuel conservation.

The reverse evolution of the hybrid car from gas-saver into a powerful machine demanding more fuel shows that even good ideas for conservation can go bad.

It's time for Congress to re-think the tax deduction for hybrid vehicles that do little to conserve compared to their gas-guzzling cousins. Tax incentives should be applied only to vehicles that help America toward a future of energy independence.




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