RE[V8] Lower Emissions

[Buchholz, Steven]

... clearly someone didn't read the entire letter!

Nobody is saying that working to lower emissions and save fuel is not a noble ambition.  The thing is that Toyota hit a gold mine with their marketing efforts on their hybrids.  From my point of view it is just another example showing that the Japanese auto makers know how to sucker the USA ... government as well as consumers ... into things they don't need.  I love those billboards that try to make you think that the Prius doesn't consume gasoline!  I also find it amusing to see that here in California it is possible to drive your Prius in the HOV lane ... I wonder how many of them are running on batteries when they are cruising at freeway speeds?  Why shouldn't any vehicle with the same fuel economy/emissions ratings be allowed the exemption, hybrid or no?  It seems to me that to really make a difference we should force Prius owners to sit in traffic so that the engines shut off instead of idling ... :-)

One thing that I find amusing is that there are people who are truly concerned with the environment who use a car like the Prius as a starting point ... they add batteries and facilities for charging the batteries overnight, and ask Toyota why the cars don't come from the factory that way.  It is my understanding that Toyota's reply is that the Prius was not intended to be an electric vehicle!

Rather than running out and buying a Prius, do a bit of shopping first.  Compare the emissions numbers for some other marques ... like VW!  VW and other marques have been working on producing vehicles that have lower emissions too!  I might argue that the Europeans are even more "green" than we in America are, and they are getting their auto suppliers to make real efforts to improve the environment.  

In my mind the most unfortunate thing is that the whole idea of "hybrid" cars stifles innovation.  It is not unlike when the airbag came out ... all work on passive occupant safety methods came to a stand still.  The idea of shutting the engine down rather than letting it idle isn't something new with the hybrids ... I wonder how much difference there would be between a hybrid model of a car and one that had a system to shut the engine down at stops, restarting it when the throttle is depressed again?  It might actually be more efficient as you wouldn't need the weight of the batteries and the electric drive motor.  

I think the writer of the letter hit the nail on the head ... in the end, market forces will bring about change.  We are already seeing alternatives to fossil fuels being pulled out of the closet and prepared to compete.  

BTW ... Thanks for posting this note Ingo ... I posted it to my door today ...

Steve B
San José, CA (USA)
> 
> It's not about the money, or the options or the marketing or somebody's
> opinion on how we should be living our lives.
> 
> We'll be choking ourselves soon enough, you can bet on that. And when our
> children start getting sick and dying off, things will change. Unfortunately
> it has to go to that extreme.
>