What you need to know about hybrid and electric cars
The best batteries for cars today are lithium-ion models (similar to what you find in many laptops), which have decent energy density, but are expensive and highly flammable. For instance, it's estimated that the Tesla Model S battery runs about $15,000, about a fifth of its $70,000 purchase price. (Tesla wants to get that down to $8,000 with its upcomingGigafactory.) New tech to make batteries more efficient and cheaper is tantalizingly close, but still hasn't been commercialized.
WHO ARE THE EV AND HYBRID PLAYERS?
Toyota started the hybrid craze with the Prius, which launched with fanfare to the Japanese market in 1997 (seen above next to the very nervous-looking, then-Toyota President Hiroshi Okuda). The car was a rousing success in its home country, exceeding Toyota's expectations with sales of 18,000 units in the first year alone. Meanwhile, other carmakers launched all-electric EVs in the US between 1997 and 1999, but they sold poorly and were quickly dropped. Honda was actually first to the US with a hybrid in 1999 -- the two-doorInsight -- while Toyota's Prius hit US shores the next year.
With the Insight and Prius sporting 61 and 52 mpg (EPA) in the city, respectively, hybrids became the go-to cars for the green set. Prius sales topped the 2 million mark in 2009, and most other manufacturers subsequently launched hybrid-electric cars, including Ford, Chevy, Volkswagen and even Porsche.
WHY SHOULD I CARE?
Fossil-fuel powered cars have played a huge role in rising temperatures, acidification of oceans and other nasty environmental side effects. They've also given the US a heavy foreign oil habit, and the sellers aren't always friendly countries.
But even if you don't care about geo-politics, greener cars have numerous benefits. Certain hybrid models are now cheaper to run than their non-hybrid counterparts, according to theUS Department of Energy. EVs can be made quieter than gas cars, thanks to the lower weight and lack of internal combustion. The entire front of an electric car can be a crumple zone, making them safer in collisions. And you can often legally drive an EV or plug-in hybrid in an HOV lane, even if you're alone.
WHAT'S THE ARGUMENT?
There are some sticky issues with electric and hybrid vehicles. The batteries don't last forever, are hard to dispose of and expensive to replace. The Nissan Leaf's heat-resistant battery packs (above) are $5,500, for example, while Tesla's Model S battery is estimated to cost $12,000-15,000 to replace. Both of those cars have eight-year warranties on the batteries, but the charging capacity diminishes considerably after several years. Due to their immaturity, both hybrids and EVs are (currently) expensive to maintain. Finally, depending on where you live, the eco-friendly aspect of EVs is questionable. If your electric grid is powered by coal, and you're charging an EV from that grid, you're still contributing to global warming. Nuclear plants have a whole other set of pollution issues.
