Hybrid and electric cars get a lot of grief amongst petrolheads. They are viewed as uncool. They are viewed as wimpy versions of their gas powered equivalents. They are viewed as... a threat.
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| Nissan ESFLOW |
Yes, that's right... a threat. The one thing that car enthusiasts will admit is that they truly feel threatened by the thought of a motor vehicle that does not rely on internal combustion. And I used to fit into this category. I was all for the powerful V-10 engine that cranks out 500+ hp and propels cars to 200+ miles per hour. Up until a few years ago, I believed that the hybrid car was a threat to the pure, unbridled joy of driving a sports car.
Well, as anyone with doubts would do, I began to research and dig deep in order to figure out what hybrid cars were really about. I chose to tackle this particular subject matter for a presentation in my sociology class during my senior year of high school. What I found really made me think about what a car should do and what we as a society should do in order to protect the environment.
Now before we really get started, let me just say: I am not against gas-powered cars. I still love Aston Martin's 4.3 V8 and I still adore the V-10 that gets placed in every Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera.
The first thing that I really wanted to tackle was the fact that so many hybrid cars looked uncool (this was back in 2006, before hybrid cars really stepped it up). In 2006, there were not nearly as many hybrid cars as there are on the roads today. The Toyota Prius was the most accessible and it didn't look that great at all. There were a few other car manufacturers starting to get into the market, but the Prius was definitely the front-runner. As a petrolhead, I was immediately turned off by the looks. Yes, it had (and still has) amazing fuel economy, but that was the only great quality that I could find about it. It was around about this time that Ford, Chevrolet, GMC, and Lexus were going to start offering hybrid versions of their current models. This would definitely help improve the "looks" department. I would definitely have an easier time buying a hybrid version of a car that already looks good.
My research then gravitated to what was powering these hybrid and electric cars. Hybrid cars, by definition, run on both battery power and gasoline. The batteries used are typically Lithium-ion batteries. At low mph, the battery component is used and the car functions without consuming any fuel. As speed is increased, the battery component switches over to the internal combustion engine (this switch typically occurs around 35 mph). So, in turn, your fuel economy is improved because you are not using any gasoline in the city (which is primarily stop-and-go traffic). To this day, I think that this is a great idea. It makes so much sense to conserve energy, especially in heavy traffic.
However, the thing that really floored me about hybrid and electric cars was the concept behind regenerative braking. Regenerative braking allows the battery to be re-charged by the energy created whist applying the brakes. The Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) uses energy that goes to waste on cars with conventional braking systems. The whole concept still blows me away, but it is a genius idea. After researching for several days, I started to change my opinion of these cars. I realized that these car makers are using state of the art technology to change the motoring world for the better. As I continued to research, I found several interesting developments in the form of the first hybrid sports cars.
I was excited to see that car manufacturers hadn't forgotten about car enthusiasts! I found these particular cars to be very interesting and a great way to bridge the gap between the average car owner and the petrolhead:
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| Ford Reflex Concept |
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| Tesla Roadster |
These cars are filled to the brim with the most advanced technology that saves on energy usage. The Tesla, for instance, is all electric and it gets 245 miles per charge! However, the best part is that this car produces 0 tailpipe emissions. I quickly began to warm-up to the idea of hybrid and electric cars. If we can help the environment and still enjoy the thrill of motoring, then we can truly please everyone.
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| Porsche GT3R Hybrid |
I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the 2010 LA Auto Show and there was a marked increase in the number of "green" cars:
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| Jaguar C-X75 |
Fast-forward to 2011. I have matured a great deal when it comes to cars. Yes, I am still working on my car lust, but I am starting to realize why cars were built in the first place. They were built to carry people. Looks were not important back when the car was first built. Henry Ford was quoted as saying, "Any customer can have a car painted in any colour he wants, so long as it is black". Henry Ford is the reason we have mass-produced cars. His goal was to help everyone. And I think that many of us have lost sight of that. So in this new mature state, I now present some of my favorite hybrid/electric cars (some of these are concept cars and may never be produced). These cars are for everyday use and will help the general public get from place to place whilst saving the planet.
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| GMC Granite Concept |
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| GMC Granite Concept |
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| Nissan Elure |
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| Nissan ESFLOW |
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| Porsche 918 Hybrid |
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| Lotus Evora Hybrid |
Okay, so maybe those last few weren't daily drivers, but it just goes to show you that even hyper-cars can be hybrid. I saw the Granite and the Elure at the LA Auto show and they are truly the future of urban transportation. The seats in the Granite can be folded and moved in order to accommodate a full-size bike! In addition to the daily driver cars, Lamborghini have announced that they will jump into the hybrid arena and Lotus will offer a hybrid version of several of their new models. If companies like Lotus, Porsche, Lamborghini and Jaguar create hybrid and electric cars, then I feel that it is our job as petroheads to support these fantastic companies. They haven't forgotten about the joy of motoring and they haven't forgotten about us. They are just now starting to think about the environment as well.
Goodnight.
My research then gravitated to what was powering these hybrid and electric cars. Hybrid cars, by definition, run on both battery power and gasoline. The batteries used are typically Lithium-ion batteries. At low mph, the battery component is used and the car functions without consuming any fuel. As speed is increased, the battery component switches over to the internal combustion engine (this switch typically occurs around 35 mph). So, in turn, your fuel economy is improved because you are not using any gasoline in the city (which is primarily stop-and-go traffic). To this day, I think that this is a great idea. It makes so much sense to conserve energy, especially in heavy traffic.
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