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Hungry for hybrids Rising gas prices lead to increasing hybrid sales
By Alicia Broach J201 Reporter The sign reads $2.29 a gallon. Three months ago it was $1.72. Fifty-seven cents has made all the difference.
Liz Shapiro's family knew what these rising prices meant. They were filling up twice a week and spending $50 in the process. Ready for a change, the Shapiro family decided to find a solution. They had always been environmentally friendly and the purchase of the Toyota hybrid Prius made sense. With this new vehicle, they're spending less time at the pump, saving their hard-earned money and reducing pollution.
This family, like thousands of others, has caused a boom in hybrid sales. With growing concern for the environment and gas prices soaring, consumers are making a change to hybrid technology, which is setting the pace for stricter competition and changes in the vehicle industry.
The industry is heading down a road of adjustment, according to Tom Woods, production manager for United Globe Napon, a manufacturer of Toyota parts.
It hasn't had time to drastically affect the major companies yet but it will, he said. Give it time and we'll see major changes in products, and manufacturing. These new products Woods mentioned began with hybrid technology. With the introduction of these engines in 1999, consumers were hopeful for the 70 MPG that Honda's first hybrid, the Insight, offered.
Hybrid vehicles combine an internal combustion engine with an electric motor. These engines use wasted energy created from braking and coasting and convert it into electricity, which is then stored in a battery until it is needed by the electric motor.
While the engine is converting this energy, it is also releasing fewer pollutants. Hybrids can reduce smog pollution by 90 percent or more compared with the vehicles on the road today, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. Hybrids will never be true zero-emission vehicles because of their internal-combustion engine, but they are qualified for the Advanced Technology Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle (AT-PZEV) standards. These standards require vehicles to be 90 percent cleaner than the average 2003 automobile, have near-zero evaporative emissions, and have a 15-year/150,000 mile warranty. These environmental standards are one reason that some car conglomerates decided to introduce hybrid vehicles.
According to its website, Toyota operates under a global earth charter that promotes environmental responsibility throughout the entire company. This company's charter claims to focus on lowering emissions and improving fuel economy in gas-powered vehicles
Toyota first introduced a mass-produced gas/electric hybrid car, the Prius, in 2000 but redesigned and reintroduced it in October 2004.
The new Prius starts at $20,875 and comes with varying options and safety features.
Sales of Toyota's Prius gas-electric hybrid increased 106.1 percent in January 2005 compared to the same selling period last year. Toyota sold over 2 million vehicles in 2004 for the first time in their 47-year history, according to Toyota Motor Sales Inc. Another major incentive Toyota offers customers is a lofty miles per gallon average. The Prius receives 60 MPG during highway driving and 51 during city driving with a combined average of around 55 MPG, according to the website Fuel Economy. These added miles per gallon are fueling consumers to buy.
Toyota dealers are feeling this demand.
We're selling every Prius we've got, said Gregory Gronski, a sales consultant at Royal Toyota in Bloomington, Ind. They're buying them before they're driving them. They're all pre-sold at our store.
Toyota isn't the only corporation to get in on this boom in vehicle sales. Honda offers an Accord hybrid as well as a Civic hybrid.
The Accord hybrid gets 37 MPG highway driving and 29 MPG city driving, according to the Environmental Protection Agency's mileage estimates. It starts at $30,140 and comes with differing options.
Honda offers another vehicle for those interested in getting even better gas mileage.
The Civic hybrid is rated to get 51 MPG highway driving and 46 MPG during city driving. These numbers may vary depending on the driving conditions, according to the EPA's mileage estimates.
Ford has also jumped on this bandwagon and introduced the Escape Hybrid. It received the 2005 North American Truck of the Year award at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
The Escape Hybrid has earned the highest fuel economy numbers for an SUV as certified by the EPA. It gets approximately 36 MPG city driving and 31 MPG highway driving.
Because it's a full hybrid, Escape Hybrid is able to run on either its gasoline engine or on its electric motor, depending on driving conditions. It can operate exclusively in electric mode during slower speeds and does not need to engage the internal combustion engine as long as there is enough power stored in the battery.
The Escape also is an extremely clean vehicle to drive, producing 97 percent less hydrocarbon and oxides of nitrogen emissions than vehicles that meet today's nationwide Tier I emissions standard. That's clean enough to qualify the 2005 Escape Hybrid for the Advanced Technology Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle (AT-PZEV) standards. With all of this new technology consumers are considering themselves lucky as gas prices reach their highest recorded price at $2.29 a gallon at most stations located around Bloomington.
This jump in price has many concerned over the well-being of oil stakes in the middle-east as well as its affordability in the states.
I drive an SUV and right now I can't afford to fill up, said Indiana University Junior Ryan Hontz. And with the war going on it seems like our gas prices just continue to rise. Other consumers have turned to purchasing these new hybrids to buffer the sticker shock of gas prices.
The Shapiro family knew that they needed to find a solution before they were spending all of their income on gas. With a concern for the environment as well as their wallet, the Shapiro family took a risk and purchased a hybrid Prius in January.
They have been pleased with their 50 MPG but say that it doesn't get the 60 MPG that Toyota claims.
It definitely makes a difference in how much you spend and it's good to know that we're helping the environment, said Liz Shapiro a junior at IU.
However, some skeptics remain when it comes to this new technology.
Car enthusiast Doug Buren has reservations about hybrids, We don't know any long-term outcomes with these vehicles. There could be mechanical failures and many mechanics aren't trained to deal with these engines. It could be expensive and inconvenient to fix, he said.
But one thing is certain, the terrain of the vehicle industry is changing and consumers are the ones making the change.
The drastic changes haven't happened yet. But if consumers and manufacturers are willing to make this a capital investment we'll see big changes in all areas of this industry-plant reconfiguration, new industries and even the petroleum conglomerates, said Woods, a car-industry veteran of 27 years. Back to top Next Page (Tax Deductions) Related Links: Honda: www.honda.com Ford: www.fordvehicles.com Toyota Inc.: www.Toyota.com Feedback: If you have ever driven any type of hybrid during its electric/internal combustion engine mode and experienced problems feel free to e-mail your comments and questions to Alicia Broach.
Page designed and edited by: Ashleigh Iverson Last Updated: May 2, 2005
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