Technology Connections video on hybrids opened my eyes to what they actually are.
I used to think they were a crappy 1/4-step toward EVs, that their main feature was regenerative braking, and that all their gas savings vanished in highway driving.
All of that is wrong.
What they are is a different tuning of internal combustion engine that gets much better gas mileage but has terrible acceleration. Hybrids augment that acceleration intelligently with an electric motor so it’s not so noticeable, removing the big complaint you’d otherwise have with one of those engines in your car. And the gas savings are actually most dramatic in highway driving.
the fuck they aren’t
WE’RE NOT TONE DEAF…
We’re not tone deaf, but we also can’t hold a tune and generally don’t really care.™️
And muh trucks, muh SUVs. Gotta have more of those.
“GM - Electric Vehicle Pioneers - We’d Rather Sell Highly Polluting Combustion Trucks but We’re Not Tone Deaf”
M’eh … I’ve seen better slogans.
The U.S. doesn’t need more hybrids, it needs electric cars that cut out oil dependency and a corresponding increase in renewable energy production.
Hybrids use 60% less fuel. But America also needs limits on sizes of vehicles.
I know you have good intentions but I would say the US needs drop in hybrid motors to convert older vehicles. I can’t afford a new car for the next 10-20 years even if I sold both of my cars.
I’d rather have a multi-fuel hybrid for emergencies; something that can run petrol, oil, diesel, ethanol, propane, kerosene, and wood gas. There are times where something like that is needed. Like powering a fridge and AC when a disaster takes out the power grid. I can tell you it wasn’t fun not having power for two weeks. I really liked the EV car idea of powering your house but what happens after you drain the battery? And look I live in a place that’s dumb enough when the power goes out, there’s a mandatory shutoff box for your solar panels in these events.
“Sorry, best I can do is a 100% tariff on cheap, performant Chinese EVs” – Biden
Biden implementing Trump’s dogshit policies is good actually
-lemmy libs downvoting you, probably
I’ll never understand the tribalism with America’s two parties. They’re both trash. One is obviously treasonous and far worse.
But in a functioning democracy, people should absolutely be pissed when they’re betrayed by their leaders. Doing Elon Musk’s bidding and keeping EVs more expensive than global warming machines is what Biden chose. Along with the EU. They can all get fucked.
Also a functioning public transport system, but that’s a little harder to do than sell a few cars.
I’ll argue for both. Electric cars for when cars are necessary (sometimes they are, especially outside the context of urban environs), electrified public transit for the other 80%.
any EVs that can reliable go along the alaskan highways in the winter?
Too bad American car companies. I already learned my lesson buying your cheap junk. Never again.
Cheap junk?? American cars are very expensive junk.
Say what you want about GM, they didn’t have to put the same V8 into pretty much everything, and now that they don’t, how are teenagers going to get their hands on a 4L V8 so detuned it makes the same power as an engine 1/3 the size for like $4000 that was only ever driven by grandma?
Had a Grand Cherokee once. That experience put me off US cars for good.
American cars are very expensive junk.
$135,000
4L V8 does not exist in America. The $4k cars have 6.2L V8s with like 160HP and literally 3 gears
My first car’s engine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northstar_engine_series#L47
Paid 4K
Unfortunately there are still at least 10 northstar V8s still functioning and driving out on the road today
It was fine when all cylinders felt like firing.
A lot of people are attacking GM for all of this. Some of that is valid, but it’s overlooking a critically important detail: People, GM’s customers, are the ones choosing to buy gas cars. GM is simply responding to that desire.
There’s an old saying, “The customer is always right (in matters of taste)”. GM’s EV offerings are, for the most part, comparable to their gas counterparts. IOW, it’s not like they’re intentionally kneecapping that segment just to force people to gas. Even when the incentives were still in full swing, more than half of the people buying a new Blazer opted for the gas version.
Focus on the demand, and the supply will follow.
Every where else the demand for electric vehicles is on the rise but here in Idiot America and in China where the ownership of EV’s is already relatively high due to cheap, good range, decent EV’s available and they’re still pushing for even more adoption.
There’s no demand here because Americans and their leadership in both government and corporate who actively hamper adoption and the refusal to actually meet the demand of having a cheap EV that can get decent milage.
In Australia we consider the Donald Trump is the greatest gift to EVs. Since he closed the Straight of Hormuz sales of EVs have skyrocketed. People now see EVs as a viable option rather than an early adopters plaything. The market has moved with the cost of fuel.
When the US collapses, at least these cars will help secure some African warlord’s fief
