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Hybrid or Diesel?
The conventional short reply is usually, “Hybrid for urban drivers and diesel for highway commuters.” Is it really that simplistic? Of course not. Lots of cities have roads with speed limits of 50 to 90 km/h, while highway commuters often spend many frustrating hours crawling in rush hour traffic. And then we all have different priorities, such as passenger needs, trunk space and towing capacity. Affordability is important, but then so is maintenance expense. For some folks, future trade-in value is key, while others are concerned about life-cycle management, “What will happen to my car when it’s gone?” The great debate about hybrid vs. diesel isn’t just about fuel consumption after all.
4 Comments
Comments
Great question and one I am hearing more about all the time. Currently VWAG is running a small fleet of TDI Golf hybrids in Europe however I suspect the cost of diesel/hybrid propulsion systems will keep them from the consumer market for a number of years. It is also interesting to note the mileage figures from the 08 Polo diesel- in excess of 70mpg or about 3L/100km! With fuel performance in this range it would be difficult to argue for expensive electrical components, batteries etc. Now, how do we get the Polo and vehicles capable of similar numbers into North American driveways?
I’ve read articles on the new Polo and I always assumed that theses were Imperial gallons… are you saying it gets up to 70 mpg (US)?
Tony, you are correct and I am pleased to see someone pick up on this. The pertinent issue of course is not whether the new technology returns 3 or 4 or 5 L/100km to the operator; can we all just agree that there are a number of hyper fuel efficient models in the global mix today which far exceed 2020 CAFE legislation and talk about how we as consumers convince the manufacturers to make these vehicles available to us sooner than later?
Your question also raises another issue and that is what metric would be most appropriate for the light duty vehicle. The one that I think makes most sense is the grams per kilometer or mile driven. Have a look at this article from the Vancouver Sun http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/features/going_green/story.html?id=2cbd3616-45ab-4ea7-8c2c-f9430574f6ca for an overview of what will soon be coming to North America. The metric is displayed as g/km in Europe using the carbon emissions as a baseline for all technology. Of course with electric vehicles we will have to account for the “extended tailpipe” (the emissions from electricity production) but lets save that one for a dedicated post. Mike V… would you like to tackle this?
Tony, thanks again for the interest.
September 16, 2008 by Greg
But why not a hybrid diesel? I don’t think I’ve ever seen any discussion of these two technologies being put to use in the same automobile. Any thoughts?