Ever tried the Electric / Hybrid cars

1. 60

   NGRIA Bassettposted 13 years ago

   Is this the future of driving?
   What are the pros and cons

   replyreport
   1. 65

      Lady_Eposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Haven't tried them yet.
      
      Cons - whenever your travelling you have to make sure the place your heading to has a Charging point.

      replyreport
   2. 66

      emievilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Wish I can drive one. Unfortunately, even if the Prius is already available here, they charge quite a steep price for it. It's like the price of an SUV here, and there was no tax exemption given by the government. Made me think they did not want that product to succeed here

      replyreport
2. 60

   Jeryposted 13 years ago

   My son has a Preius (don't think you spell it like that)anyway the Toyota hibrid. I like it you really don't notice any real difference.

   replyreport
3. 0

   sneakorocksolidposted 13 years ago

   My sister-in-law has a Prius, she loves it! Un fortunately we have to suffer her comments about how she doesn't remember the last time she put in gas.

   replyreport
4. 60

   NGRIA Bassettposted 13 years ago

   How long  does the charge last in these vehicles. If driving from state to state are there service stations to recharge and how long does that take?

   replyreport
   1. 60

      Jeryposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I think the car pretty much charges itself as you drive (braking force is used to generate electrical power I think) My son doesn't plug it in or anything like that. One drawback is the battery pack has a limited life and will have to be replaced at some point in time and I've heard they are very expensive.

      replyreport
5. 69

   Pearldiverposted 13 years ago

   I have tried the first commercial version in NZ. It looks to be a pretty nice car in Blue; but has an orange shopping basket attached to the back of it. I don't understand why they didn't have a blue rear basket, instead of orange?
   
   It had really good accelleration from scratch; but you can't do the full mile to accurately measure it's speed because the electric cord isn't long enough!

   replyreport
6. 60

   NGRIA Bassettposted 13 years ago

   Way cool. Thanks Jerry for the information.

   replyreport
7. 64

   Mishaposted 13 years ago

   http://hubpages.com/hub/Prius

   replyreport
8. 59

   Clayton88posted 13 years ago

   http://hubpages.com/hub/sports-cars-delux

   replyreport
9. 55

   laszlonposted 12 years ago

   Hybrids can go anywhere a regular gas powered car can go since they can use either the electric motor or the gas engine to power the wheels. The Toyota Prius and virtually all hybrids that are currently (Nov 2010) available are parallel hybrids as just described. The Chevrolet Volt was intended to be a series hybrid, meaning the the wheels would always be driven by the electric motor and the gas motor would be used to generate electricity to keep the batteries charged. Recently it was disclosed that the Volt may end up as yet another parallel hybrid. Pure electrics, like the Nissan Leaf are supposed to be available now but no dealerships have them. A pure electric is always driven by the electric motor and has no other engine in it. The best ones, like the Tesla, can go about 200 miles before needing to be recharged. Recharging them takes anywhere from 2 to 12 hours depending on the type of charger/power source available. Needless to say, pure electrics are still a long way from being practically usable on cross country trips. They are perfect, however, for almost 100% of the usual day-to-day use that cars usually get: to and from work, shopping, visiting friends around home etc. I hope this post is informative for you.

   replyreport
10. 28

    Mr Rudi O'Neilposted 12 years ago

    A lady that I work with has recently purchased a Honda Insight. She says that it would be great if she drove it around town centres most of the time, but she tends to do a great deal of motorway driver. When this is the case, the electric motor barely ever kicks in, so she never actually gets any real benefit from the hybrid design. So I suppose the answer is that hybrids are great if you do a fair bit of urban driving, but not so great if the majority of your driving is extra-urban.

    replyreport
11. 57

    aboxwellposted 12 years ago

    We drive a Mitsubishi i MiEV every day. Over the last year we have driven on average 22.4 miles per day, so the i MiEV is a great car for us. We use it as a family car and need 2 cars, so the petrol car is used for any long distance driving. The iMiEV is a great car fast acceleration, very relaxing to drive, quiet and fun. The main problems for most people will be the price and range. Shame we have to give it back in 2 weeks.
    

    replyreport
    1. 49

       browndawgposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I heard on the radio the other day that for the difference in price of the Toyota Camery Hybrid vs the std Camery you would have to drive the hybrid 159,000 miles to make up the cost difference in savings at an average of $3 per gallon in gasoline. Hardly seems worth the additional money to me.

       replyreport
12. 59

    lovelypaperposted 12 years ago

    I think those cars are so ugly.

    replyreport
13. 59

    RDSPhDposted 12 years ago

    I tried a Lexus but I always got into the "red rpm zone" when driving and somehow driving felt "different" (maybe due to the lack of car engine sound - which in my opinion is veery dangerous for pedestrians listening to music and not being careful when crossing the road!!). But the main reason I didn't like it was the air con that was blowing waay to much air  even on the lowest setting (that's not a Hybrid-car problem but more a Lexus problem )
    
    But I guess if you want to you could get used to driving a Hybrid car!

    replyreport