[ad_1]
As much as some of us love them, internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles will gradually go the way of the dinosaur as the global population considers positively impactful ways to keep us and the planet alive into the future.
Electric vehicles (EVs), or those powered by hydrogen or another alternative safe and sustainable fuel source, are preferable to the world going down the climate-change toilet but, at the moment, if you live outside of an urban setting, an EV is not the be all and end all that it’s made out to be. As for other technologies and alternative fuel sources? In terms of technology and infrastructure, we’re nowhere near being able to provide for the mass usage of those.
So, what’s your best buy at the moment if you want to help to save the planet one road trip at a time?
A hybrid vehicle – i.e. one with a traditional fuel source (petrol or diesel) and electric power – is a cheaper alternative to a full-blown EV and it yields better fuel economy and less environmental impact than a standard ICE vehicle, powered by petrol or diesel engine.
At this point in time, a hybrid makes a lot more sense to a car buyer than an EV.
Read on.
Hybrids are a reasonable compromise between EV and ICE
A hybrid gives the owner/driver a warm fuzzy feeling about helping the planet by reducing traditional fuel usage and vehicle emissions, while not burdening that individual with the crippling range anxiety that troubles EV owner/drivers.
Because a hybrid doesn’t rely solely on electric power. It can be driven with confidence on long-distance road trips – there are service stations everywhere, but there aren’t reliable EV charging stations everywhere (more about that soon).
Hybrid vehicles – whether 2WD or AWD and no matter what technology or hybrid system is involved – are generally just as refined, comfortable and capable as their standard ICE stablemates, with the added bonus of yielding better fuel economy.
The drivetrain tech in hybrids is so smooth and finessed that, while driving, you’d be hard-pressed to know when the vehicle switches between EV mode – for driving only on battery power to reduce fuel consumption and emissions – and the traditional ICE set-up, unless you were already closely monitoring the driver info display to see such a change occur.
Hybrids seamlessly switch between the engine and electric motor (as in something like Toyota’s series-parallel configuration hybrid system) to power the wheels or (as in something like Nissan’s e-Power series hybrid system) the petrol engine works as a generator for the vehicle’s battery and e-motor/s.
It doesn’t matter what hybrid you’re driving, in theory at least, you’re doing something to help save the world. And, as I always tell my kids, something is better than nothing.
Hybrids are better suited to the real world than EVs
At time of writing, the EV charging infrastructure remains very much a work in progress throughout Australia.
In the three years now that I’ve been involved in the testing and reviewing of EVs, I’ve found that charging stations are frequently broken/non-functional, offline (for maintenance purposes) or, worse still, the parking space allocated to an EV for charging has been taken by a conventional vehicle, because the driver was too bloody lazy to park a few more steps away from their favourite fast-food joint.
I don’t care who you are, how much driving experience you have, how good a driver you think you are or what you drive (petrol, diesel, hybrid, EV), a vehicle’s driving range at full capacity should always be of serious concern.
Charging an EV remains a problem.
Not so with a hybrid because you’re not reliant at all on an operational EV charging station to keep you going; you have the convenience of service stations peppered throughout the country.
Range anxiety is a real issue when driving an EV because you just don’t know if the charging stations you’ve meticulously mapped out on your 1000km road trip will be a) working, b) blocked in by an ICE vehicle, or c) at the end of a four-car queue.
Just as a reference, a Toyota RAV4 Cruiser 2WD Hybrid has listed fuel consumption of 4.7L/100km (on a combined cycle).
On a recent test in that vehicle I recorded actual fuel consumption of 5.9L/100km, from fill to fill.
The RAV4 has a 55-litre fuel tank, so going by that on-test fuel-consumption figure, you could reasonably expect to get a driving range of about 930km out of a full tank. In a fully loaded and fully charged EV, you can probably expect between 200km and 500km. Tell me I’m wrong.
Hybrids are more readily available – and cheaper – than EVs
Unless you want a RAV4 hybrid! (Good luck getting your hands on one of those.)
Hybrids are cheaper than EVs – especially if you opt for one of the more affordable petrol-electric versions over the more expensive top-spec variants.
So, buying a hybrid makes more sense in terms of availability and initial cost.
What I reckon
Hybrids are generally a good combination of performance and fuel economy and they offer people the opportunity to do something rather than nothing about addressing serious emissions issues in the world.
EVs are not the magic solution that they’re made out to be – not by a long shot – and while the problems surrounding them – such as high purchase prices and a lack of reliable EV-charging infrastructure – are being addressed, there’s still some way to go before owning an EV outside of a city actually makes real sense.
Until then, hybrids offer an effective compromise between staying loyal to ICE vehicles and wholeheartedly embracing the cult of EV.
[ad_2]
Source link