+ - A Honda Civic Lesson-> 4
Submitted
by
Attila Dimedici
Attila Dimedici writes "Eric Peters makes the case that hybrids have been over-hyped. His argument is that in order to sell people on hybrid cars, automakers have emphasized the energy efficiency of hybrids in ideal conditions and failed to tell people that in most ordinary driving conditions they will not come close to meeting the numbers given. He refers to a recent case where an individual has chosen to forego membership in a class action law suit and has instead chosen to go to small claims court. He suggests that there is a significant chance that she will win there and that this will open up all of the manufacturers of hybrid vehicles to similar lawsuits.
The article was on a rather partisan website so I am curious as to what factors he has chosen to overemphasize to make his case? Or what factors he has chosen to ignore to the same end? I know that slashdot has a large contingent of hybrid and EV supporters who are well educated on the subject (as well as a large contingent of those who are not so well educated)."
Link to Original Source
The article was on a rather partisan website so I am curious as to what factors he has chosen to overemphasize to make his case? Or what factors he has chosen to ignore to the same end? I know that slashdot has a large contingent of hybrid and EV supporters who are well educated on the subject (as well as a large contingent of those who are not so well educated)."
Link to Original Source
op-ed (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
http://9thcivic.com/forum/threads/honda-reports-june-sales-figures.1687/ [9thcivic.com] would disagree. 17k would be a bad month, 26k would be a good month, according to this site.
Re: (Score:2)
Bait and switch (Score:2)
Disclaimer: I own a 2007 Honda Civic hybrid.
The complaint about the Civic hybrid is that the car was sold as achieving 48/51 mpg according to EPA estimates.
With normal driving (normal = the type of driving seen every day, exhibited by most drivers), it was not possible to get much closer than 10 mpg of those figures when the car was purchased.
Now, this hybrid has a power assist design (different to the Prius), which lends itself to easily draining the battery - climbing a hill, for example - and the battery