Honda sees no future for plug-in hybrid vehicles
Honda sees no future for plug-in hybrid vehicles
mongabay.com
October 23, 2007
Honda Motor Co. Chief Executive Takeo Fukui said plug-in hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles offered too few environmental benefits to be worth pursing for the Japanese car company, according to the Wall Street Journal. Instead Fukui suggested that improved batteries would be better used for electric vehicles.
“My feeling is that the kind of plug-in hybrid currently proposed by different auto makers can be best described as a battery electric vehicle equipped with an unnecessary fuel engine and fuel tank,” Mr. Fukui told a group of journalists Tuesday at Honda’s research and development center in Japan. “Assuming that we can come up with a really high-performing battery that we are working on currently, I think a battery electric vehicle [that uses such battery technology] would actually be a plus from an environmental point of view.”
“But I don’t think [a plug-in hybrid gasoline-electric car] would contribute to the global environment, to reduce emissions,” he continued.
U.S. automakers are currently developing gasoline-electric plug-in hybrids. GM has said it plans to introduce an advanced hybrid vehicle called the Chevrolet Volt to the U.S. by as early as 2010, according to the report. Both Toyota and Honda have questioned the logic of the Volt.
Other groups are focused on developing plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). Google.org, Google Inc.’s philanthropic arm, have established a $10 million prize for the development of such vehicles, which use batteries that can draw and feed electricity to and from the grid.
Related
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles will cut pollution, emissions, oil use
. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality significantly by 2050, reports a new study by The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
Google will put $10M towards plug-in hybrid cars. Google.org, Google Inc.’s philanthropic arm, unveiled an initiative to convert hybrid cars to plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs), a move that will cut carbon dioxide emissions, reduce oil use, and help stabilize the electrical grid. Google.org will put $10 million towards the effort, which will start by modifying six hybrid cars (4 Toyota Priuses and 2 Ford Escapes) with batteries that can draw and feed electricity to and from the grid. The company says that the cars are outfitted with data recording devices that track technical and environmental performance, use patterns and charging history and post the results to the web.
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