Jed,
The biggest advantage the Prius has over other designs is that
it exists. You can buy one.
Yes. I hope they sell all they can make. No one is suggesting that
they cease making them because the design is less than adequate.
However to add a larger battery pack to the present design if
silly if you can't use it on the freeway.
The Prius with the add-on battery pack is something of a kludge
or compromise.
It is worse than that. If it still won't be useful for the
freeway - why do it at all? How many long trips does anyone take
that do not involve the freeway? Even if you are too rural for an
interstate highway, you want to go over 40.
The Prius+, with the add-on battery pack will give the average
driver well over 100 mpg; probably 120 mpg, I guess.
The vehicle I suggest will do better than 120 mpg since you never
need the large ICE during the average day. It will more like 1000
mpg... hmm... as in both cases the term is a sham since the energy
is coming from the grid at night. But this grid power is or should
be cleaner power: wind, hydro and nuclear - and one should use as
much of it as possible.
This Prius + is a futile watse of capital if it will not allow you
to use the freeway without the gasoline engine. Why waste the
money? Put the $6000 in a CD for 2007, when they have a vehicle
that will be used on the the freeway without turning on a large,
polluting and and unnecessary ICE.
That is the "average" driver in the city, the suburbs, on a
short commute or a reasonably long commute. In other words, if
nearly everyone drives a car like this in 8 years, the US
consumption of automobile gasoline will fall by a factor of
five.
Or a factor of seven, if the design is improved (and it will be)
to allow freeway travel with batteries alone and eliminate the
large ICE altogether.
We should not wait for the ideal, perfectly up-to-date hybrid
design to emerge.
Who say wait? Buy the Prius now and buy the improved serial hybrid
in 2007. That is what the auto industry craves - planned
obsolescence. Don't get me wrong, the Prius is definitely a step
in the right direction, no doubt about it - but its weaknesses are
now obvious and should not be perpetuated for the sake of
preserving a dinosaur - the large ICE.
Jones
- Re: Plug-and-play Prius Problems Jones Beene
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