In years gone by there has been the promise of a shift away from Internal Combustion Engines and towards the irresistable lure of the electric vehicle.
The promise has been there for decades but we are only just seeing the mainstream results come to fruition next year with the release of the Chevy Volt.
I know, I know, I know, Toyota has had the Prius in its linup for a few years, but I discount that as a token effort.
WHY?
Well it is like this.
For all the bluster about the environmentally friendly Prius, it actually isnt friendly in many ways at all.
The biggest way is that it is a massivley overly complex beast in its current form.
Having batteries to run an electric car is obviously a must, as is the electric motor, but also showhorning in an Internal Combustion Engine that atually drives the car is just lunacy.
Take the Chevy Volt for example. I see this as an electric vehicle done RIGHT.
It too has an Internal Combustion Engine, however it does NOT power the car directly, just provides electricity via a generator to run the electric part of the car.
This is the propper way to do it.
You have a plug in charge car that you can charge at home, run around for a couple of days, then charge it up again, all without using the petrol burning engine.
Then on the weekend you can just jump in and head off to the mountains with no fear of running out of charge due to the fact that as soon as the charge gets low, the pertol engine kicks in and tops off the batteries, giving you a range the same as any petrol car. ( well it actually gives you a much longer range )
Back to the Prius for a second.
The base model Prius is $37,400 list price (plus on road, but you could more than likely walk out with one for that price)
The Turbo Diesel Volkswagen Polo (TDi) is $22,900 list price, so a whole $15,000 cheaper than the Prius (in roundabout figures)
The Prius has a quoted fuel economy of 4.4l per 100km where as the Polo has a quoted fuel economy of 5.0l per 100km.
I cant speak for the Prius, but I have read of reports that this consumption figure is unobtainable, and that real world figures are in the 6.0l per 100km area.
I can however speak for the Polo as I bought one earlier this year, and can vouch for the 5.0l per 100km figure as I have obtained that myself. On city cycle I might add.
So, remind me again why I would spend $15,000 extra under the moniker of environmental friendlyness to get worst fuel consumption?
Also, the Prius is petrol, the Polo Diesel, so your Prius is burning a fuel that takes more energy to produce and has nastier by-products.
Environmentally friendly? I think not.
Time will tell if the Volt is the way to go. I would rather see a diesel varient, but that is just me. A nice small turbo diesel power plant that is running at a constant rpm, tuned for maximum efficiency would be the best of both worlds. Tune it to run on bio-diesel, fish and chip oil or veg oil and you are onto a winner.
Obviously price is going to be a big consideration too.
The Volt is rumoured to be priced in the Mid to High $30k level in USD, so there is no way to tell if it will ever grace our shores here in Australia or how much it could eventually cost, so it isnt for everyone.
I cant help but think that if car manufacturers took this seriously they would take the $40k car and sell it for $25k and go for the sheer volume.
As it currently stands, car manufacturers spend billions on R&D, and that has to be recouped somehow, obviously, but arent you going to make it back easier if you cut the bottom out of the market?
Imagine the newswires if Chevrolet released the Volt internationally for $20,000 a pop intead of the $40,000 that it is looking like. Dont spend much, if anything, on advertising, let them be sold based on word of mouth and plow all your money into makeing them a great car for the masses.
Let them have some of the extra options, but a few that you can pay extra for, but have a superior build quality and all the futuristic stuff that the Volt has for the everyday man.
How many would they sell? Would the $20,000 a car that they would be forgoing be missed due to the lower advertising and marketing and FAR higher turnaround?
Imagine the Global massage that Chevy would be sending?
We are the number one car manufacturer and we care about our customers AND the environment!
Oh well, a boy can dream cant he?
