I Said Hybrids Were The Future. Was I Right?

A few months ago, I said that hybrid cars would become the kings of the automotive industry as we slowly transition to electric vehicles. Let’s take a look at how that prediction has turned out so far and what others have said.

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#science #sciencenews #technews #tech

[heikoschwammle]

Sometimes I imagine if EVs were common before combustion and now you try to build a gas station in a city, what would I be like argumenting about this in front of a approval committee:
„So you want to build a station for selling highly flammable, toxic liquids in the middle of the city? Next patient please!“

[familienglum]

Here in Norway we had pretty big hybrid sales, but after the charger network was built out and battery capacity increased most go pure electric. Its cheaper with just one system not fosil fuels and electric. We also have close to 100% water power. Had two fossil cars, now i got two electric, they are better, they cost less to drive and I will never go back.

[bnewland]

I have been driving a Prius Prime starting in 2017. I charge using my 10 kw of roof solar. I charge every time I pull in my garage so the 40 mile range is not a problem for local travel. It has a 500 mile range on 10 gallons of gas for cross country. Love it.

[p.bckman]

I'm from Norway. We have quite good EV infrastructure, and a charger down in the local garage. Getting an EV made life a lot easier.

[ingramfry]

Feels like buying second hand EVs is probably a good value proposition.

[PromethorYT]

Here in Montreal I often talk with my Uber drivers about their electric and hybrid cars. And almost all of them regret buying an electric car and those who bought an hybrid are happy with their purchase. The thing is, for some reason, recharging an electric car is very expensive if you use fast chargers. And during the winter the batteries don't last as long, and they are stuck charging at low speed and loose a lot of time not making trips or use fast charging and pay a hefty price. As hybrid cars last their whole work day.

[nerdy_crawfish]

3:00 the real reason Americans have so many big vehicles is because of the cafe standards. The regulations require vehicles to reach a certain fuel efficiency based on the size of the vehicle’s footprint. Auto makers found it far easier to make vehicles bigger instead of trying to make the vehicles Americans actually wanted (station wagons and compact trucks) more fuel efficient. Now we are stuck with either tiny cars that aren’t practical for a family of four or vehicles that are way bigger than we actually want.

Edit: Going off the replies I think I need to clarify something. I’m not saying that all Americans would downsize if the cafe standards would change but a large enough number of Americans would downsize to have a big impact on the average vehicle size and average fuel efficiency. That’s why I said the reason we have *so many* large vehicles is the cafe standards. People who would prefer a large car or a small truck are more likely to opt for a larger vehicle than what they actually want than trying to cram into a smaller one.

[FlavorsomeMusic]

came for the science, stayed for the bad jokes with even poorer delivery, they're great

[NiekNooijens]

in the Netherlands people say ẗhe infrastructure isn´t ready yet¨ and ẗhe range isn´t enough¨ all the time about BEVś but the fact is that 400km is literally the longest distance you can drive in this country, meaning you can get anywhere in the Netherlands on a single charge.

Speaking of infrastructure, we´ve got 3321 gas stations, 4784 fast charging spots and 167.500 publicly accessible chargers.

yet still people complain ¨ the infrastructure isn´t ready¨. Which makes me think the oil lobby is behind this nonsense. After all 40% of oil is

[johnstroughair]

I live in rural Pennsylvania, just got a BEV, best car I ever had. Charging is no problem, surprised at how much infrastructure is already in place.

[skeptibleiyam]

It appears to me that buying a vehicle based on the vacation trip that happens once, maybe twice, per year is very common. It is frustrating because, for people that can charge at home, the BEV would be a better choice for the other 51 weeks out of the year, and very few of them have made the switch.

[c--b]

What made me really understand the mechanical benefit of hybrid vehicles was thinking in terms of part wear. On the surface it seems like adding more parts (Hybrid battery, electric motor, battery charging, and various electronics) is a net loss to part wear, however taking a closer look at what purpose the added hybrid parts serve it becomes evident that the hybrid components lengthen the life of the non hybrid components which are much more prone to wear by offloading the work they do. In effect the net amount of mechanical complication has increased, but the average amount of wear has dropped drastically.

This is even more the case with plug in hybrids, where the battery size can be optimized for commute distance further elevating part wear.

[Iove]

I live in Austin Texas and there are more Tesla model 3's here than any other car, they are everywhere.

[amingangji]

Your point about Hybrids being the near term future of transportation is valid. However, I think hybrids viability is shorter than most predict. Hybrids are not just cumbersome in their implementation with less power, less reliability, and ultimately less profit. For those who claim that these vehicles are reliable I counter with the following from NHTSA:
EVs were involved in approximately 25 fires for every 100, 000 sold. Comparatively, approximately 1, 530 gasoline-powered vehicles and 3, 475 hybrid vehicles were involved in fires for every 100, 000 sold.

[davianoinglesias]

Over 70% of people live in developing countries, they definitely will opt for hybrids

[unconventionalideas]

The thing is that large vehicles in the US have become virtually impossible to sell over the last few years. Manufacturers increasingly have long waiting lists for compact models while large vehicles sit for years, sometimes with a $10, 000 discount off of MSRP as a starting price, and still nobody buys them; the reason EVs are not doing better here is likely because almost all of them are huge, expensive models that the US consumer has totally lost appetite for. Meanwhile, hybrids are much easier to buy in the smaller classes of vehicles now in such severe shortage.

[BeFred]

Hybrids are indeed a solution for the foreseeable future. Reason why for example Europe has (partly)abandoned them is due to the manufacturers themselves. Hybrids got subsidies and the manufacturers started bringing Hybrids to the market who weren't actual hybrids. Suddenly the streets got filled with hybrids with a V6 or V8 gasoline engines with an 8km electric range which never got used, the only use for the extra battery and engine was for extra performance. Other hybrids like the ones on the PSA platform, or Toyota for example who had 3-4L/100km performance and a full electric range of 60 to 80 km ere suddenly forgotten and also categorized under the same umbrella.

[adamf]

Hybrids of all forms are always just a stopgap until prices of the prefered method comes down. Spinning/ssd hybrid hard drives are another example.

[vladeckk]

I feel like hybrids give up the big selling point for electric vehicles (after gas mileage), which is that they require much less maintenance than gasoline powered vehicles.

[garymyron]

The problem with “hybrids” is that there is no standards on the system. Add a tiny battery and a small motor on the fan belt and you have a hybrid. Unfortunately it only improves gas mileage by a tiny amount. If you want to reduce emissions your hybrid needs to something along the line of a Prius, and not a keyword for your marketing.