Hybrids in the Hudson Valley
by Lynn Behrendt
I first heard about hybrid vehicles a few years ago when I stumbled across a "Greenest Car Report" at CNN.com. I was surprised to learn that there were three hybrid vehicles on the U.S. market that were actually affordable: the Honda Insight, a small, somewhat futuristic-looking two-door car; the Honda Civic hybrid, which looks on the outside exactly like the gasoline Civic except for the word "hybrid" on the rear of the car; and the Toyota Prius, a nearly mid-sized 4-door vehicle. The Insight and hybrid Civic cost around $20,000; the Prius (pronounced PREE-us) runs slightly more.
A hybrid car is one that runs on both stored electricity, and gasoline. You don't have to plug it in as you would a solely electric-powered car. The notion that hybrids are extremely lightweight and therefore more dangerous in collisions is not accurate. How much a car weighs is one of the chief factors in how safe it is in collisions. The Civic and Prius both fall into the "acceptable" safety weight range of the national Highway Traffic Safety Administration. For example, the curb weight of a 2003 Prius is slightly more than that of a Corolla. The Civic hybrid weighs a little more than the non-hybrid Civic. The Insight is indeed a very light car, though it scored respectably in government crash tests. The Prius rated good, if not great, in frontal and side crash tests, but rated very good in rollover resistance.
Gas mileage for all three hybrids seems to range between 48 to 70 miles per gallon (depending on who you talk to), which is significantly better than a non-hybrid. In fact, the recently released 2004 Fuel Economy Guide from the Environmental Protection Agency rates the Honda Insight as being the most fuel efficient car on the U.S. market, followed by the hybrid Civic and Prius, respectively. If you would like to buy a hybrid car and want to support domestic manufacturing, you can't at this point in time. No American hybrid car exists on the market. In fact, if a key factor for choosing a new car for you is fuel efficiency, then you will undoubtedly buy Japanese, since nine out of the ten most fuel efficient cars in the U.S. are made by either Honda or Toyota. There is not a single American car on the EPA's 2004 most fuel efficient list.
Only about fifteen percent of the energy in the increasingly pricey fuel put into your gas tank gets used to move your car down the road or run accessories like air conditioning or power steering. The rest of the energy is lost. Unlike a regular car, a hybrid combines a gasoline engine with an electric motor to increase fuel efficiency and reduce air pollution. The electric motor assists the engine when accelerating and then recaptures energy when braking or decelerating. The electricity is stored in a battery pack. When you come to a stop in a hybrid car, the engine shuts off and the power shifts over to the electric battery.
Hybrids are beginning to be seen here in our part of the Hudson Valley. Katherine Gould Martin, who lives in Annandale and runs the Bard in China program at Bard College, has owned a Toyota Prius since December 2001. She first drove a hybrid when visiting her son in Texas, who at that time owned a Honda Insight. Since the Prius is so popular, Katherine had to wait roughly six months to receive the car after ordering it. But she says it was well worth the wait, since the car gets such good mileage, has fairly good pick-up, and is extremely comfortable on the interior. All the hybrids come with excellent warranties, to quell any reservations that a potentially nervous hybrid-owning pioneer might have. "Plus," Katherine states, "the hybrid mechanic at Prestige Toyota in Kingston is fabulous." Katherine 's primary motivation for buying the car was altruistic. Though she saves money on gasoline (her car started out getting 51 miles per gallon and now seems to be getting around 48 mpg), her concern for the environment is what prompted her purchase. It turned out to be a good and solid decision, since she states that she would definitely buy another Prius, and that her husband's next car will without question be a hybrid.
Marty Lupowitz, a chiropractor who lives in Accord, has owned a Prius since 2000. A Green Party member and dedicated environmentalist, Marty first learned about hybrids through Sierra Magazine. As soon as he heard the cars were available for purchase in the US, he ordered one through the dealership in Kingston. Marty chose a Prius, since the only other car available at that time was the Honda Insight, which was too small for his family. Marty got a nice $4,600 combined federal/state tax break for buying his car. The tax break will be in effect for a few more years, though President Bush has decided that it will diminish each year and be phased out in the near future. Marty Lupowitz's Prius now has 70,000 miles on it, and the only minor problems he has had with the car are that the warning lights were at one point going on too easily (the problem has since been fixed by the dealer) and the tires that the car came with were not great. In general, he reports that the car has been extremely reliable, has excellent visibility and turning radius, and, like Katherine Gould Martin, he finds the interior of the car to be very comfortable.
Bea Ehrsam, a veterinarian who lives in Highland, has owned a Honda Civic hybrid since May 2002. She and her husband, Pasqual, are both environmentally-minded, as is evidenced in Pasqual's biodiesel car and the solar panels outside of their home. Bea likes her hybrid Civic very much and has had no problems in the 22,000 miles she's driven it. She gets anywhere from 50 to 57 miles per gallon, and she notes that the mileage seems to be better in warmer weather. Bea pointed out that by paying attention to the meters and dials on the dashboard, she has managed to become a more fuel-efficient driver. Since the meters calculate your gas mileage as you drive, you can clearly see what driving behaviors use more gas. For example, Bea has learned how to use her brakes less, how to stop accelerating just before reaching the top of a hill, etc. These may seem like small changes, but one thing that I found common in all three of the hybrid owners I spoke to was the belief that little changes do indeed add up, and can make a difference in our environment.
If you're interested in getting in on the tax advantage of buying a hybrid while simultaneously saving money on gasoline, helping the environment, and making America less dependent on foreign fuel, there are cars available in our immediate area. Friendly Honda in Poughkeepsie currently has hybrids on their lot. They have sold around 35-40 of them in the past year. Honda of Kingston also has hybrids available and have sold quite a few to area residents. Prestige Toyota of Kingston sold about 40 hybrid Toyotas in the past year. They have 15 Priuses on order right now. Cara Humphrey, the hybrid salesperson at Prestige, relayed an interesting fact to me: the emission from one Toyota Prius over the course of 150,000 miles is roughly equivalent to the emissions from one can of latex paint. Though I have no idea how one might compare paint fumes with car emissions, it certainly sounds impressive, and the Prius is in fact rated to be the lowest emission-producing vehicle on the market, as well as the most aerodynamic of the hybrids.
It looks like hybrids are going to be around for awhile. In fact, early in 2003, shortly after President Bush announced a billion-dollar initiative to develop commercially viable hydrogen fuel cells, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology released the results of a study that revealed that the hydrogen car, seen as becoming commercially viable around the year 2020, is not an environmental cure-all for the future. It seems that, though hydrogen is plentiful in our environment, and the only byproduct of a hydrogen-powered engine is water, the energy required to convert hydrogen to useable fuel is substantial, and the conversion process creates greenhouse gases (the gases that most believe contribute to global warming). The MIT study showed that, if we need to curb greenhouse gases within the next twenty years, improving mainstream gasoline and diesel engines and transmissions, and "expanding the use of hybrids," is the way to go.
Whenever I see a hybrid car on the road these days, I get excited, point to it, and say to my six-year-old son, "Look, look! It's a hybrid car!" It's still a rare occurrence to see one. But hopefully, over the course of the next few years, the sight of hybrids on our beautiful Hudson Valley roads will become a common one. Toyota is even planning on coming out with a hybrid SUV soon. (Who knows, someday there might even be a hybrid Hummer!)
One thing for certain: After learning about hybrid cars and talking to some area residents who have been driving them for a few years, I have decided that I definitely will be buying a hybrid vehicle the next time I'm car shopping.
If you want to learn more about hybrid cars, check out these web sites:
www.een.com (Environmental News Network)
www.greennature.com
www.fueleconomy.gov
www.cleancarcampaign.org
www.sierraclub.org
