Debunking 10 Myths About Hybrid Cars
Posted on February 1, 2006
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Business Week debunks the Top 10 Hybrid Myths:
6. Hybrids are small and underpowered.
The Honda (HMC) Accord hybrid is the fastest family sedan on the market. The Lexus Rx400h and Toyota Highlander Hybrid share the same 270 horsepower system. The Lexus GS 450h hybrid sedan, expected later in 2006, will exceed 300 horsepower with 0-to-60 performance below six seconds. And the Toyota Volta concept is a 408-horsepower scream machine. (See Hybrids for more information).These vehicles prove that adding an electric motor and batteries to the drivetrain does not intrinsically mean diminished performance. Combining a gasoline engine and electric motors gives engineers more control to emphasize fuel parsimony or speed, urban driving or highway cruising, large vehicles or small.
General Motors’ (GM) two-mode hybrid system, rolling out later this year in the Chevy Tahoe, is designed specifically to give drivers of full-size SUVs a V8 highway cruising experience and towing power — without draining the gas tank.
It’s starting to feel like we might actually be on the verge of the ubiquitization* of hybrids in North America.
(*I thought maybe I’d made that word up but evidently Georgia Tech beat me to it.)
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