More common than an alley cat on Cayuga street, hybrid powered cars are taking over Santa Cruz. Hybrid vehicles start with a standard combustion engine and combine it with a small electric motor powered by batteries that are continually recharged by the gasoline motor. Typically the electric motor is used during in-town driving and the gas motor turns on seamlessly and operates during hard acceleration and highway travel. Any Santa Cruz driver who glances at the vehicles around them will have probably seen the eco friendly Toyota Prius. Now well into its second body style, the Prius has put Toyota at the top of the hybrid segment. Dealing with the high cost of developing this emerging technology, Toyota took a gamble when pricing its efficient sedan thousands less than the actual cost of production. The gamble paid off. So popular are these cars that new Prius’ require an eight month wait and if you want it now expect a $3000 mark-up.
Playing catch-up, every other car manufacturer has been scrambling to capitalize on soaring gas prices and market their own hybrid car. Honda has done what it can by offering the small and unrealistic Insight, the Civic hybrid and now the vanilla ice cream Accord hybrid. This well known sedan will appeal to folks who are concerned less with making a visual statement- as is the case with the Prius’ enigmatic shape- and more interested in skipping the pump more often. Ocean Honda expects its first delivery of the Accord hybrid by late December. Close to a dozen people have lined up to get one and may have to pay a $3000 dealer mark up as well. These Accords will be hugely successful but it will take more than a glance to tell them apart from the standard Accord.
Oxymoronic as it may sound, the next big thing in hybrids will be the SUV. While no manufacturer has designed a full size SUV hybrid, several have introduced mid sized vehicles. The Lexus RX300 based H300 and the Ford Escape Hybrid; combine the rugged looks, high driving position and space of an SUV to go along with respectable fuel consumption. It’s about time.
While it would seem fellow Santa Cruzan’s might be anti-SUV, you don’t need to look long to find one. Trucks in general make up a large portion of our road going populace. Chevy has given us a reason to be less critical of it full size Silverado truck. An optional hybrid feature allows the truck to shut the V8 off during traffic stops. While at a red light, the motor shuts down and instantly fires up at the next tap of the throttle. Gas mileage improves 13% over a standard V8. Lucky for us, this hybrid I.P.O. from GM will be sold only in California, Washington and Oregon for the 2005 model year.
In the future, hybrid technology will find its way into sports cars and even super cars. At the Geneva auto show in 2002 Honda debuted its Dual Note concept and Toyota showed us its Volta concept two years later at Geneva also. While far from production, these cars highlight the fact that fuel efficiency can be had with supercar performance, and supercar good looks. I can only hope that they will invent a soundtrack to play while the car runs silently on electricity, after all, what good is a high performance car without a rumbling motor and barking exhaust? At least I wont stupidly walk in front of one like I did with a Prius not long ago. As I parked my car in the two story parking garage by 99 Bottles, I began to walk toward the street and was nearly clipped by a silent running Prius cruising slowly directly behind me. Thanks to an alert driver, I survived. I’m going to miss the sound of a combustion engine.
*Warren Madsen 11/04*
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