Hybrid Cars
A Hybrid car runs on gas AND an electric battery. They work together so the car gets very high fuel economy. The battery powers the car at slower speeds, and the gas engine powers the car at higher speeds or in times of acceleration. The Honda Civic Hybrid gets 45 mpg city and the Toyota Prius Hybrid gets 48 mpg city! Are they more expensive? At the moment yes but… the government offers tax credits at the state and national levels for people who buy hybrid cars. Those tax credits along with the savings on fuel recoup those high costs in less than two years.
Nothing contributes more to global warming that CO2 emissions from our vehicles. Americans love their cars, and today they are bigger and faster than they’ve ever been. According to the Federal Highway Administration, there are 241 million cars and trucks on the road in the United States, 53% of which are trucks, vans, SUVs, or minivans. The United States accounts for 30% of the world’s automobiles and require 8.2 million barrels of oil a day to operate them. That’s 11% of the world’s daily oil consumption. All that fuel we burn fills the air with 1,300 million tons of CO2 each year.
The impact this has on our planet is immeasurable. According to the United Nations Human Development Report released in November 2007, the automobile sector accounts for 30% of the greenhouse gas emissions in our atmosphere. Greenhouse Gas emissions are what cause global warming and put our planet, our futures, and the live’s of our children in great danger. The average fuel economy in the United States is 20.2 miles per gallon, compared to 35 mpg in Europe. The reason why is we love our trucks and SUVs, which only average 18 miles per gallon. Compare that to a Honda Civic at 36 mpg or a Toyota Matrix at 33 mpg, its easy to see why we burn so much fuel. Not to mention you can save a lot of money if your car has high fuel economy. Let’s say you drive 20,000 miles a year. At $4 a gallon, if your SUV gets 18 mpg compared to a 35 mpg car you’ll spend $2,159 more on fuel every year by driving an SUV. Another option is to purchase a Hybrid, which use both electric power and fuel.
Solution? The solution is to change what you drive and how you drive.
GREEN CAR OF THE YEAR!!!
An SUV? How is that possible? Well it is… The Chevy Tahoe Hybrid won Green Car of the Year for 2008. America’s first full-size hybrid SUV is available in two or four wheel drive and provides the power of an SUV while delivering the efficiency you never imagined. Its hybrid propulsion system is designed to operate in three ways: electric power, engine power, or any combination of electric and engine power. The Tahoe Hybrid offers up to 50% better city fuel economy over the non-hybrid Tahoe.
SOLAR YOUR ROOF
Have you ever heard of solar roof panels? Not many people have. Solar roof panels put the sun to work for your commute. Solar Electric Vehicles manufactures solar panel systems that can be installed on the roof of any hybrid car. These solar panels gather sunlight and convert it into electricity, the panel lets a hybrid run for up to 20 miles per day in pure electric mode, netting a purported 29 percent increase in fuel economy.
PLUG IT IN
Don’t want to wait for car companies to sell you the next generation of hybrids? While General Motors and Toyota talk about plug-in hybrid cars, conversion kits are already here. By adding a beefed-up battery pack and some extra computing power, a Prius or Escape Hybrid can be plugged into a home socket. Fully charged, they will run on electric power alone for up to 40 miles — more than enough for the average commute. These kits aren’t cheap, though. Massachusetts-based Hymotion is taking orders now for its kit, which starts at $10,000.
THE FACTS
A Hybrid car runs on gas and an electric battery. They work together so the car gets better fuel economy. The battery powers the car at slower speeds, and the gas engine powers the car at higher speeds or in times of acceleration. The Honda Civic Hybrid gets 45 mpg city and the Toyota Prius Hybrid gets 48 mpg city!
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I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Sharon
http://www.autoloans101.info
Very informative blog, and yes going green is a very good thing, one main way to contribute to the environment for people using gasoline vehicals is convert them to EVs using
electric car conversion kits. It will save you money as well as do your job for the nature.