The Top Ten Hybrid Myths

By Alice Hill
RealTechNews

We’ve been covering hybrid cars like the popular Toyota Prius and even ways to hack a hybrid and run it mostly on “EV” or all-battery mode. (For a complete how-to click here.) But most people, including myself, don’t own these vehicles and are still unclear on a lot of what they do and don’t do. Today I found a great piece from Business Week on 10 myths about the hybrid car.

1. You Need to Plug in a Hybrid Car

As soon as the word “electricity” is spoken, you think of plugs, cords, and wall sockets. But today’s hybrid cars don’t need to be plugged in. Auto engineers have developed an ingenious system known as regenerative braking. Energy usually lost when a vehicle is slowing down or stopping is reclaimed and routed to the hybrid’s rechargeable batteries. The process is automatic, so no special requirements are placed on the driver.

Most hybrid drivers are glad not to be required to plug in their vehicles, but a growing number of them wish they had the option. The ability to connect a hybrid into the electric grid overnight (when rates are cheap) to charge a larger set of batteries means that most of your city driving could be done without burning a single drop of gasoline.

(Alice Adds: read our simple hack here. It is possible)

2. Hybrid Batteries Need to Be Replaced

Worries about an expensive replacement of a hybrid car’s batteries continue to nag many potential buyers. Those worries are unfounded. By keeping the charge between 40% and 60% — never fully charged and never fully drained — carmakers have greatly extended the longevity of nickel metal hydride batteries. The standard warranty on hybrid batteries and other components is between 80,000 and 100,000 miles, depending on the manufacturer and your location. But that doesn’t mean the batteries will die out at 100,000 miles. The Energy Dept. stopped its tests of hybrid batteries — when the capacity remained almost like new — after 160,000 miles.

3. Hybrids are a New Phenomenon

In 1900, American car companies produced steam, electric, and gasoline cars in almost equal numbers. It wasn’t long before enterprising engineers figured out that multiple sources of power could be combined. In 1905 an American engineer named H. Piper filed the first patent for a gas-electric hybrid vehicle. With the advent of the electric self-starter in 1913 — making gasoline engines much easier to turn over and get started — steamers, electrics, and hybrids were almost completely wiped out.

More Myths:
4. People Buy Hybrids Only to Save Money on Gas
5. Hybrids Are Expensive
6. Hybrids Are Small and Underpowered
7. Only Liberals Buy Hybrids
8. Hybrids Pose a Threat to First Responders
9. Hybrids Will Solve all our Transportation, Energy, and Environmental Problems
10. Hybrid Technology is Only a Fad

Read About the Myths Here
Source: Business Week