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Hybrids as a platform for EVs
Why should we promote highly efficient hybrids as a way to promote EVs?
Pure EVs will probably dominate in the long term, when electrical storage devices are competitive and energy used is generated from non fossil sources. Currently and most probably for a number of years to come there are two limiting factors for EVs:
- Storage devices for electrical energy (batteries, super capacitors, fuel cells…) are not efficient enough. A combination of low energy density, high price, slow and/or complicated recharging and infrastructure status make electrical storage quite inferior to liquid fuel from the consumer point of view.
- Currently electricity is mainly generated from fossil fuels globally, mostly so from coal, and as long this is true, EVs are inferior to highly efficient hybrids from a CO2 emission and global warming point of view. Read more here.
When studying these two limiting factors in detail, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that HVs will be the environmentally superior vehicle type during the next 20-30 years from now. A broad range of analysts and visionaries seem to agree on this, ranging from EIA prediction of 7 million hybrids vehicles sold per year in US around 2030 (hopefully a too static view, underestimating pressure for change) to google.org vision of two thirds of vehicles sold in US 2030 beeing hybrids (as a vision probably overestimating transition).
A wide acceptance of HVs may lead to gradually increasing pure electrical drive if batteries with lower cost and increased capacity become available. More and more short trips can then be made on electric drive. This also makes environmental sense in areas where CO2 neutral power has replaced marginal fossil power (unfortunately not many areas today, but 20-30 years from now it might well be the case).
