The Mandelbear's Musings

There are three other problems that were apparent when I test-drove the Prius a few years ago:

• The system was designed for use without a/c. We were driving along in traffic at great Woohoo mpg, when I asked if I could turn on the a/c. Test-drive guy said, "Sure." According to the central dash display, Woohoo mpg plunged immediately to the low 30s (comparable to the 2003 Corolla, which is what we eventually bought).
  
• The Prius is basically an Echo with a $8,000 surcharge we call the hybrid system. I don't know about you, but I can buy a lot of gas for $8,000.
  
• Hybrid-electric or electric cars don't really solve the problem of "energy production" (I know, I know—not my oxymoron, okay?). You still have to transfer enough energy to a storage device to get the car to move. And that transfer process creates pollution, no matter where you do it. The same would be true of hydrogen fuel-cells, too. Bush's support of the "hydrogen economy" idea makes me very suspicious that petroleum and coal would still be major players in terms of providing the immediate source-point energy for splitting all those water molecules. In the meantime, when was the last time that CAFE standards went up? The technology exists to boost fuel-economy standards on all automobiles (including the light-truck category), and that would reduce both pollution and energy use tremendously.

I guess I'm an old-fashioned skeptic, here.