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| Hybrid future |
March 14, 2006 |
By Michael Bettencourt
Honda dealers in Canada started selling an oddball little two-door hatchback in early 2000. It had two seats, little power, almost no cargo room and covered rear wheels. Despite modest sales targets, the Honda Insight had two lofty goals: first, prove that Honda had the engineering muscle and environmental willpower to create the most fuel-efficient car in North America; and second, introduce the largest car market in the world to vehicles powered by both gasoline and electricity. It accomplished both.
Five years later the word “hybrid” was on the lips of every major automaker at the Tokyo Motor Show, a biennial event where future technologies are often previewed.
Now, even while the debate over the real-world fuel economy of hybrid gas-electric vehicles continues, the number of hybrids available on this continent is certainly on its way up. It has obviously become more a question of when, not if, each auto company will start offering hybrids.
Backbone magazine travelled halfway across the world to experience the latest future thinking on hybrids. But before we give you the low down, it’s worth going back in time to see how those tentative first steps in North America helped shape the current global hybrid phenomenon.
The earliest hybrids
The Honda Insight may have been the first hybrid to hit North America but it wasn’t the first modern gas-electric hybrid vehicle to hit the road. That title was claimed by Toyota in late 1997 when it launched the Prius in Japan.
Ironically, much cruder gas-electric hybrid vehicles were developed during the automobile’s infancy, about 90 years earlier than the Prius. In fact, a patent for a gas-electric powertrain was filed in 1905 by American engineer H. Piper, and a few of the new-fangled horseless carriages were powered by both electric and internal combustion components in an era when automotive conventions were yet to take shape and gasoline engines battled electric and steam-powered vehicles for public acceptance. Sales of these hybrid vehicles never took off, though.
Toyota and Honda would face similar sales challenges when their hybrids first launched, especially in Canada. Sales of the Insight have been somewhat short of dismal in North America.
The aerodynamically slippery, egg-shaped coupe was and remains an automotive statement vehicle, one never likely to generate any profits for Honda. Cars like the Smart ForTwo and Mazda Miata prove there is a market in this country for tiny two-seaters, but the Insight seems to have missed this difficult target.
If that car introduced the term “hybrid vehicle” to many North Americans, the first Toyota Prius is the vehicle that actually got them to talk about hybrids on a regular basis. It had four doors and room for five people, making it more practical than the Insight. All of a sudden, here was a hybrid choice that could be used in one-car households, looked like a normal car and was not restricted to commuter use.
It was also the first one to show up at heavily scrutinized Hollywood red-carpet events like the Oscars and Emmy awards, starting with Leonardo DiCaprio back in 2000 and continuing to last year’s Oscar-night Prius and celeb pairings that included Charlize Theron, Robin Williams, Orlando Bloom, Salma Hayek, Penelope Cruz and Morgan Freeman.
That vehicle was the second-generation Prius, which went on sale in late 2003 as a 2004 model, and is by far the best-selling and most recognized hybrid model sold today. It moved up to a mid-size from the compact car class and it switched from a four-door sedan body style to a four-door hatchback, bringing it closer to the pure aerodynamic shape of the Insight. The hatchback body style was a considerable gamble on Toyota’s part, as the U.S. generally hasn’t reacted positively to hatchback vehicles.
The gamble paid off, however. In North America, the Prius commands about half of all hybrid sales today. The market for hybrids has grown 960 per cent since those two models went on sale, and the number of hybrid models increased five-fold to 10 (nine in Canada), most of them hybrid versions of mainstream models like the Honda Accord and Civic sedans; SUVs such as the Ford Escape, Toyota Highlander and Lexus RX400h; or pickup trucks, like the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra.
Auto industry analysts have debated the reasons for this increase in hybrid popularity, since they’re still considerably more expensive than their gas-engine counterparts. Most attribute it to a combination of increased awareness of environmental issues, an increase in provincial and federal (in the U.S.) tax incentives, rising fuel prices, and in some American jurisdictions the ability to travel alone in carpool lanes.
That brings us to where we are today in the evolution of the modern gas-electric hybrid. But where are we going from here? For that, we return to the auto show, where the show’s dominant theme was hybrids.
Back in Toyko
The Toyota Estima Hybrid Concept minivan unveiled at the show uses Toyota’s latest hybrid system, THS II, and an electric four-wheel drive (with independent in-wheel motors). Toyota claims the Estima will attain more than 40 miles per gallon, while the exhaust has a heat recovery system for lowering carbon dioxide and other emissions. Standard AC outlets can supply enough power to run a computer, television or refrigerator. The interior is accented by a high-tech-looking central panel and is equipped with second-row seats with built-in footrests and power foldaway third-row seats. The company used DiCaprio as a spokesperson in a video on the concept.
The Subaru B5-TPH introduced a unique powertrain: the first turbocharged hybrid engine. The B5-TPH (turbo parallel hybrid) is a stylish wagon/crossover vehicle powered by a 2.0-litre gasoline-turbo boxer engine and an electric motor. It uses a manganese lithium-ion battery designed to last at least 15 years.
Getting closer to real-world designs is the Lexus LF-Sh concept car. The Lexus LF-Sh, which may also put the same or a similar powerplant into the next-generation version of Lexus’ top-line LS sedan, uses hybridization to boost power with only a modest gain in fuel efficiency. Another model, the GS450h, adds hybrid electric gear to a V6 engine to produce the fastest and the most efficient model in the GS line. The LF-Sh will add an electric motor and batteries to a V8 engine.
This push for hybrids at Tokyo goes for motorcycle manufacturers as well, as Yamaha unveiled two hybrid concept motorcycles at the show, one a futuristic sportbike and the other a scooter.
The Gen-Ryu uses the 600cc engine from the Yamaha R6, adds an electric motor and claims litre-class power output. Cool features include a noise cancelling system, hands-free voice control over the stereo, cellphone and navigation systems, plus a rear-view monitoring system using a camera and screen. Yamaha’s HV-01 hybrid scooter concept seems much closer to production, both in looks and practicality, because it offers fewer exotic features.
More coming
The increasing shift to hybrids will continue strongly in 2006 and 2007. Next year will see the introduction of hybrid versions of the Toyota Camry and Nissan Altima family sedans, the aforementioned Lexus GS450h luxury sedan, and GM’s small Saturn VUE SUV. For 2007, hybrid versions of the Ford Fusion and Chevrolet Malibu sedans will be available, plus the larger Chevrolet Tahoe/GMC Yukon twins, as well as their equally new Silverado/Sierra pickup versions.
Toyota, the automotive market leader in the technology, has publicly floated the possibility of offering hybrid versions of all its vehicles eventually, although its current goal is to hybridize 25 per cent of its lineup by 2010. No other company has announced such aggressive plans, as there is considerable concern amongst many high-ranking auto executives that the majority of consumers won’t want to pay extra for the increased costs of a hybrid powertrain, especially when new technologies like continuously variable transmissions and seven-speed automatics are reducing the fuel consumption of regular engines.
Still, there seems to be an acknowledgement from most manufacturers that hybrids are more than an eco-friendly fad. In the words of Ford Motor CEO Bill Ford Jr., “I would like to get more hybrids out of our system, because I do think it’s something that is here to stay.”
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