Hybrid Car Sales Rise 81% In US During 2004, 960% Since 2000 - AP

DETROIT (AP) -- "The lure of the Toyota Prius and other hybrid cars helped drive healthy sales of electric and alternative-powered vehicles last year, according to new data that shows the hybrid market has grown by 960 percent since 2000.

New hybrid vehicle registrations totaled 83,153 in 2004, an 81 percent increase over the year before, according to data released Monday by R.L. Polk & Co., a Southfield-based firm that collects and interprets automotive data.

Even though hybrids still represent less than 1 percent of the 17 million new vehicles sold in 2004, major automakers are planning to introduce about a dozen new hybrids during the next three years. Lonnie Miller, director of analytical solutions for Polk, said federal and state tax credits for fuel-efficient vehicles have helped spur hybrid sales. More people also are buying into the idea that driving a hybrid is socially responsible.

EDIT

Despite the arrival of Ford Motor Co.'s Ford Escape hybrid in showrooms last year, Japanese automakers continued to control the vast majority of the U.S. market, Polk said. Japanese brands accounted for more than 96 percent of the hybrid vehicles registered."

EDIT

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HYBRID_GROWTH?SITE=OHCIN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

nt

:eyes:

vehicles and reduced our total number of cars to two, both hybrids.Me and my wife are sharing a RX 400h Hybrid that over the past two eeks of driving in the city ha given us 36 MPG. My children are driving a Toyota Prius and get a little better mileage than ours. I understand that the highway mileage in these cars is the same as the gas only vehicles.

We are very pleased that we have managed to reduce the total number of cars in our household and forced even our teenagers to share one car.That must rate a Nobel Prize in someone's books.

we are looking into whole house solar power as well... Wish more people could as I would love to starve some of the repuke- owned electric companies! (think Enron's rape of California)

excerpt:

In the informal survey we did with Honda and Toyota hybrid owners, fuel economy numbers ranged from 33 to 49 mpg on average, which reflected many driving styles and a wide range of commutes. While these numbers are significantly lower than the EPA ratings, all the owners we interviewed were happy overall with the fuel economy as it is still better than most gasoline-only vehicles.

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/specialreports/articles/103708/article.html?tid=edmunds.h..topfeatures.hybridcost.0.*

EFFICIENCY SPECIFICATIONS (FROM ANOTHER PAGE)

Toyota Prius Compact Coupe/Hatchback
MSRP: $20,975
City Mileage: 60 mpg Hwy Mileage: 51 mpg

Honda Civic Hybrid
MSRP / Invoice
$20,900 $19,095
EPA Mileage Estimates: (City/Highway)
Automatic: : 48 mpg / 47 mpg

and, yes, I am an "acquaintance" of both Carnegie Mellon's "General Motors Corporation Chair in Economics" Lester Lave and Penn States "Exxon Mobil Endowed Chair in Mineral Economics" Andy Kliet - who don't like hybrids or electrics. But, they're GM and Exxon guys.

don't follow

are the academicians who routinely testify against ev's and hybrids, routinely write article about how ev's and hybrids "cost" more then they save, etc.

Lave came up with the specious argument that when people buy hybrids they actually use more fuel then they save -- because the owners increase their driving. (When pushed for the basis for this - he said he got it from an unpublished study done by a University of Michigan for GM, and that study was "GM confidential" and would not be published).

Kliet the cited that same unpublished "GM confidential" study.

And Kliet and Lave get cited repeatedly by the oil companies and the Big Three to show that hybrids and ev's just don't pay for themselves.

In my opinion, the US government needs to raise efficiency standards for autobiles. Automobiles with fuel economy above a certain statistical deviation above the standard should have a "gas guzzler" tax. That tax will be progressively higher, approaching $5000 to $10,000 for the real gas hogs.

We will then leave it to the automakers to apply whatever technology necessary to achieve compliance. That could be hybrid, variable valve timing, etc-- whatever works best.

Although diesel is also competitive.

That's when (finally!) the US mandate for low-sulphur diesel fuel kicks in. For decades we've been using stuff with 5-10X the sulphur content you'll find in European fuel - true mule piss and pretty dirty stuff.

At any rate, diesel's still going to be dirty compared with a SULEV, but this will clean things up substantially.

The other thing that (in contrast) is attractive about diesel fuel is that it takes only about 60% of the energy of gasoline to refine.