Oh, this is just too sad for words. The other day I noticed an ad for the new “GMC Sierra Hybrid Pickup”:http://www.gmc.com/sierra/hybrid_popup.jsp. I was surprised by the idea that US automakers were finally getting on the hybrid bandwagon. Turns out I shouldn’t have been.
Read on for the rant…
Toyota has had a working, useful hybrid vehicle for what, “7 years now”:http://john1701a.com/prius/prius-history.htm, right? The demand for it is insatiable, and Toyota is taking home more awards and more money every year.
Honda has a whole line of hybrids, too, including a hybrid version of the popular Accord V-6 which gets 40% better fuel efficiency than the non-hybrid model (about 30mpg).
And what is GMC’s exciting response to this, years later? A V-8 “hybrid” pickup which is (as the site puts it) “up to 10% more fuel efficient” than the dismal 18mpg of the standard model. Wait, 10%? That’s… let’s see… 2mpg better. Two. And the tailpipe emissions aren’t improved at all. Why? Because the “electric motor isn’t used to move the vehicle at all”:http://www.automobilemag.com/news/new_2005/Pickup_Trucks/0409_gmc_sierra_hybrid/. Not even a little. It’s only used to keep things running when the vehicle is stopped or braking.
For this marvel of engineering, GMC adds $2500 to the cost. With the tiny mileage improvement, that only pays for itself at the pump after about 200,000 miles of city driving. For comparison, buying a brand new Prius and using it instead would pay for itself just as quickly. And that’s just sad.
Yeek. That’s so not worth it. One of my anthro colleagues just got kind of a deal on a Prius that was used as the test drive car on the Toyota lot. Green With. Envy.
Ooo. And the stupid thing is that people will buy such a truck and say, “Oh, see, I’m environmentally conscious, because it’s a Hybrid.” When it isn’t! It’s a conventional vehicle with a hybrid tumor! They really could do so much more.
“Hybrid tumor”! Hee hee…
Indeed. I’m picturing our Governator shouting, “It’s naht ah tumah!”
I forgot to mention that the ad was on top of a gas pump. They’re almost certainly implying that the “10% better” mileage is a major feature.
Yeah, I saw that green washing BS at a trade show a few months ago. When I saw “hybrid” I thought great! A hybrid truck — finally! As I would actually be in the market for one of those . . . When I asked about the gas mileage, I was told 17 city and 18 highway or something horrendous. I must have looked disgusted as he said, well it’s a heavy truck you need a big engine to move it around, not like those little hybrids (that is bs as a Prius is somewhere around 3,000 lbs I believe). But then he was really quick to point out the plug in the back — so you can use the car as an on-site generator. Useful, occasionally, but not very “green.”
~d whos waiting, waiting for a *true* hybrid truck!
Seriously! I thought of you (Deb) immediately when I first saw this “hybrid” truck. Trucks would actually be good candidates for hybridization, because they’re generally overpowered for city driving in order to have power available when hauling. A hybrid drivetrain would allow the gas-powered engine to produce less power in general by providing peak power from the electrical system. I think that’s called “integrated motor assist”:http://repositories.cdlib.org/ucei/devtech/EDT001/, but I Am Not An Automotive Engineer.
If they really wanted to get radical, they could design a V-8 which acts like a 4-cylinder engine in city driving conditions. I think that’s how Honda can provide a “V-6″ Accord Hybrid which gets the mileage of a 3-cylinder motor… because it’s running on 3 cylinders most of the time. Again, IANAAE, but the folks at GM claim to be.