Our World and Everything in It

I have a complaint. My mother’s small engine car uses just as much gas as my large 300 hp car, which is in the shop.  So now I know what the beef is about with the U.S. auto manufacturer’s idea of gas mileage. Some in congress want them to work on that. Thirty and forty miles to the gallon would be nice. I’m driving this little putter of an engine, not very far mind you, when I looked at the fuel gauge and it moved just like my big car. This needs to change. And no, my big car does not have a big tank. I don’t ever remember putting 14 gallons in it even when it was near empty.

I’m curious about what the hybrids will be like in 2008. I thought the little Saturn Sky was a hybrid from their latest commercial, but it’s not.  Darn, I was willing to go look at one of those. We’re seriously lagging in the hybrid market, and what’s out there is ugly. Daimler Chrysler produced a few hydrogen buses for Iceland 3 years ago, but had nothing to show as far as hybrids at the auto show this year and then sold out to private investors. Go figure? With only GM and Ford, hopefully there will be more than just a few hybrid offerings next year. GMC has a few electric hybrids out there right now.

One of GM’s hybrids is a pick up truck. My husband works with a guy who bought one. It’s the exact same truck as my husband’s Sierra with a Vortec engine but it’s electric and gas. The owner drove it up north and got 28 miles to the gallon. In town he says he can feel it switch to electric but doesn’t notice any difference at lower speeds. My girlfriend really wants a hybrid like this because most of her driving is in-town. She says she would never have to buy gas; what a wonderful, wonderful thought.  

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 29th, 2007 at 4:44 pm and is filed under Automobile, Conservation, Environmental Legislation, Environmentalism, Fuel Economy, Industry, U.S. Automakers, U.S. Dept. of Energy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.