Hybrid Cars - Has anyone done the math?

[Paper Hearts]

Isn't the US #1 as far as consumption of OPEC oil?  If so, it would make perfect sense that we would have a "special relationship".  Outside of your family, you always give your best customer the best prices.  It is business, we are consumers.

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Sorry freind, I believe what he was alluding to is that the technology has been there since the early 1970's for electric vehicles and isn't it too bad then that we are forced to drive these vehicles that not only use gas but use too much of it, when that means we have to "buddy up" with governments like those...don't want to put words in his mouth but the point, i think, was that hybrids are a step in the right direction, but if you really want to look at it, they are a "cop-out", too.

[Paper Hearts]

-Actually, the vehicles with the lowest CO2 emissions are turbo diesels-in the states, that only means certain Volkswagons-we do not have turbo diesel Hondas here like in the UK. As far as the states are concerned, nothing gets better fuel efficiency than a Honda-but again, the emissions of a Hybrid Honda is slightly more than what you get from a turbo diesel Volkswagon of comparable class.

[Black Sunday9]

Sorry freind, I believe what he was alluding to is that the technology has been there since the early 1970's for electric vehicles and isn't it too bad then that we are forced to drive these vehicles that not only use gas but use too much of it, when that means we have to "buddy up" with governments like those...don't want to put words in his mouth but the point, i think, was that hybrids are a step in the right direction, but if you really want to look at it, they are a "cop-out", too.

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Basically I think that we buy oil from bad people. It's a long complicated issue but we should have moved to alternative based fuel cars by now. Believe it or not George Bush is the first president to approve government funding for hydrogen fuel research for automobiles.

If we wanted electric cars we would have electric cars in the U.S. The money we spend on technology and scientific resrearch here dwarfs most other nations.

The truth is that we have a political interest in using oil. Using oil keeps us dealing with bad people. Dealing with bad people has lead to us fighting wars. Granted our pals the jews are over there too so I would never say "blood for oil" because that is dishonest.

but we need to keep donors to political parties happy like enron and haliburton. Clinton pardoned Mark Rich, george bush has ties to Ken Lay. I don't do the whole George Bush bashing thing like some do, mainly because Clinton did the exact same things in alot of areas and so did REeagan and so did Carter and even JFK.

[Jarodaka]

-Actually, the vehicles with the lowest CO2 emissions are turbo diesels-in the states,

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There are other things coming out of the exhaust besides CO2 that are just as nasty. Diesel emission restrictions are being tightened in the U.S. in a couple of years. (Sorry, no links right now.)

... hybrids are a step in the right direction, but if you really want to look at it, they are a "cop-out", too.

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Do not forget the emissions required to create the energy to power a pure electric vehicle. Of course, if we used more nuclear power plants then the pollutants from the plants wouldn't be an issue. The nice thing about hybrids is they generate their own electricity -- hardly a 'cop out'.

Then again, if we created a closed carbon cycle by making our own 'fossil' fuel... turkey anyone?

[Jarodaka]

I am highly interested in training for hybrid repair but my school doesn't even talk about them let alone cover any material about them, so I guess I should go check out a Honda dealership when I graduate huh?

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...or Toyota, Ford, or Nissan (or GMC, sort of).

[Paper Hearts]

Good points, man.