markatty Posted October 6, 2005 Share Posted October 6, 2005 For those that have a subscription to the Wall Street Journal there is a bonanza of articles today: Tackling Hybrids Flawed Mileage Claims Testing the Fuel Claims of Hybrids Ford Test-Drives Online Ordering for Hybrid Doing the Hybrid Math U.S. Gets Real on Fuel-Economy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LCB Posted October 6, 2005 Share Posted October 6, 2005 I can't read the article, but all these "flawed mileage claims" are the same. They never dig deeper to discover the gas version claims are even worse. A hybrid might claim 31, but get 25. Then the gas version claims 22, but then gets 15. They never report on the latter because that story isn't as sexy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katzjamr Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 Todays Wall Street Journal has an article regarding standards in hybrid design. Toyota being first with the best system so far would like its HSD adopted by everyone. GM is trying to figure out a less expensive hybrid system that "doesnt save as much fuel" but is easier to adapt to current vehicles. (and large suv's) Porsche and Volkswagon are going their own way. GM almost signed on with Toytoa but then did research on the wars between VHS and BETAMAX in the electronics industry. They felt if they didnt develop their own technology it would allow toyota to get too strong. Meanwhile toyota now owns 60% of Panasonic who makes the Prius hybrid battery, and they are moving fast to corner the supply of hybrid components on the market. In effect right now Toyota can control who Panasonic will sell batteries to. Some people in the auto industry were hoping for standardization so that the cost of hybrid parts could be brought down with economies of scale. At this time the individual hybrid markets are moving in their own directions. Stay tuned... .. . P. S. one more interesting bit of infomation in the article noted that Toyotas HSD is designed to provide the best combination of power and fuel economy in a vehicle, however since it has more moving and specialized parts it is not yet adapable to a large SUV. The WSJ said that right now a HSD system for a Sequoia would be so large that the combination of parts and battery would not fit into the vehicle LOL. Higher voltage systems will help this problem but also add to the cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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