Over the weekend, as I was catching up on some news I read two hybrid stories. The first by Green Car Congress discussed Hymotion, a hybrid to plug-in hybrid conversion company, and their plans to add solar panels to their conversion process. Now this is an idea I completely support and I totally support Hymotion.
So, why am I beginning to have plug-in angst?
Currently,
there is an online petition
being run by AutoNation that AutoblogGreen
has been covering the last few
weeks. Now, this isn't the
only plug-in petition on the
Internet - there are many,
however, this particular
petition is focused on fleets
- an issue that bugs
AutoblogGreen.
What bugs me, on the other
hand, is all the interest in
tomorrow's plug-in hybrids
rather than today's hybrid
issues. It's almost starting
to sound like GM claiming that
today's fuel efficiency isn't
all that important because
tomorrow's fuel cell vehicles
will solve that problem. Yet,
tomorrow is always pushed off
until tomorrow.
I say forget plug-in hybrid
vehicles - unless you are
interested in a coversion -
for now. Today, tax credits
for Toyota hybrid
cars have been cut in
half. Since Toyota is
currently the most important
developer of hybrid
technology, such a reduction
in consumer incentives (tax
credits) is going to hurt
hybrid demand, especially with
cheaper gas. Ultimately, if
interest in today's hybrids
loses steam, interest in
tomorrow's plug-in hybrids
will also falter.
Yet, gas prices will
eventually go up, and
Americans will once again look
back and ask, 'Why didn't we
keep developing hybrids?'
When Toyota qualified for the
full tax credit, the Prius
was a bargain as gas prices
hit $3.00. A Prius could be
bought for financial reasons,
not just environmental or oil
dependency reasons, and
financial reasons simply
resonate the most with the
average automobile consumer
today. The more hybrids that
sell today, the sooner better
hybrid technology, including
plug-in hybrid technology,
will become available
tomorrow.
Inevitably, online petitions
for plug-in hybrids are almost
a distraction from today's
hybrid issues. Investing in
today's hybrids is the best
path towards plug-in hybrids.
Aside from buying a hybrid,
getting Congress to extend
hybrid vehicle tax credits for
today's hybrids, is a far more
important issue than
supporting tomorrow's plug-in
hybrid vehicles with a
petition.
More on Congress
and the Hybrid Car Revolution.
