OT: Why are Hybrids so unpopular in the US?

[RU4Real]

I agree. If a particular SUV averages 25 mpg with a conventional engine, the hybrid version may be able to get it over 30 mpg. Since families like to use SUVs for the road trips, driving vacations, and such the gas mileage increase can help. A family of 2 adults and 2 high school aged kids is not likely to take a Prius for a 1 week family vacation that they drive to when they have a Honda Pilot or Nissan Pathfinder (both are 27 mph highway) also.

See, this right here is the fallacy.

Conventional hybrid systems don't offer fuel economy increases in highway mileage. They are more efficient in local driving. On the highway, they're running off the IC engines, solely.

 

[ManasquanMike]

Hybrids like the Prius are not "electric" cars. They generate their own electricity to charge their own batteries. There's never any need to plug them in for charging.

My mistake, I rephrase to electric not hybrid but this has been answered. Thank you for the correction.

 

[RUfinal4]

and by the way, a Tesla Model X starts at 88k. That is the 1st electric SUV getting about 250 mile per charge. For a pure electric car you probably want a range of at least 275 miles.

For a daily use vehicle where you have easy use of a charging station you probably want around 60-75 mile electric range plus gas range on top of it. Many people travel up to 35 miles each way to work or may have to travel up to 100 miles in a given day. New Brunswick NJ to Parsippany is 43 miles each way (86 miles). Many people work in Parsippany and live in central NJ where a hybrid vehicle makes sense.

Let's see which car company enhances their electric cars enough to compete with Tesla.
- BMW has the I8, I3, and X5 edrive. The x5 is only 13 miles electric. Get that to 100 miles before switching to gas and it may have some staying power to compete.
- Chevy has the spark, volt, and upcoming bolt. Can they adopt the technology to the Traverse, Trax, and Equinox?
- Cadillac has the upcoming ELR. Does Buick get the technology next?
- Fiat ./ Chrysler / Dodge - has the 500e and upcoming Pacifica. The Pacifica will be 30 miles per charge initially but that can start the game changer if the Dodge and Jeep SUVs can also adopt the technology. The Jeep Cherokee has become one of the most popular mid sized SUVs for daily commuters. Give it a electric / gas hybrid engine and you may see it become the best selling vehicle in its class.
- Toyota has a plug in Prius coming out. Do they adopt that technology to the RAV4, Highlander, and Camry down the road? Lexus will probably get it with the CT and other vehicles too.

 

[MYHATINTHERING]

shocked why this needs 3 pages and anyone even needs to ask this question really

 

[RU4Real]

shocked why this needs 3 pages and anyone even needs to ask this question really

Why?

 

[RUfinal4]

Why?

exactly - we love our cars in NJ and as educated individuals we will have a nice conversation for 3-5 pages.

 

[J.L. Gotrocks]

There is currently more oil in known reserve than has been extracted in history.

In the words of Warner Wolf, if you had peak oil and anytime before 2100, you were wrong

Speaking of which:

From link:

"...Permian Basin is the gift that keeps on giving.

One portion of the giant field, known as the Wolfcamp formation, was found to hold 20 billion barrels of oil trapped in four layers of shale beneath the desert in West Texas, the U.S. Geological Survey said in a report on Tuesday. That’s almost three times larger than North Dakota’s Bakken play and the single largest U.S. unconventional crude accumulation ever assessed. At current prices, that oil is worth almost $900 billion.

The estimate lends credence to Pioneer Natural Resources Co. Chief Executive Officer Scott Sheffield’s assertion that the Permian’s shale endowment could hold as much as 75 billion barrels, making it second only to Saudi Arabia’s Ghawar field. Pioneer has been increasing its production targets all year as drilling in the Wolfcamp produced bigger gushers than the Irving, Texas-based company’s engineers and geologists forecast."