Electric & Hybrid Vehicles

[Gregory Matthews]

I wonder how many people reading here own or have owned either electric or hybrid vehicles.

When I was working we needed to have two vehicles to drive.  In 2005 we went with our first hybrid vehicle.  Over a period of time we owned  five (5) different hybrid cars.  We now own our first plug-in hybrid combination vehicle.  We can plug in to our house current and drive on pure electric power.  When the battery runs out it immediately switches to hybrid power and alternates as needed between the gasoline engine and the electric motor which is then powered by energy generated by the movement of the vehicle, such as down hill or when we brake.

The first hybrid that we purchased was a 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid.  At 125,000 miles I gave it to my son and he is still driving it.  At the time I gave it to him it was beyond warranty..  When the hybrid battery failed, he talked Honda into splitting the replacement cost with him.  At a later time the engine went.  He purchased an engine that came from a totaled vehicle and it has done him well.  All in all, that was a very good car that he is still driving.

As to plug-in vehicles:

There are companies that are placing charging points in the U.S.  and in other countries.  These are owned by the property owner where they are located and who sets the fees.  They charge by the hour that the vehicle is hooked up to the charger and generally charge at 240 volts.  In some places business owners will offer free charging just to attract customers.  There is a charging station 1.7 miles from where we live, which is a good walking distance.  That station charges $1 per hour, which is an excellent rate.   We can also charge our vehicle off of our 120 volt house current.  The cost of charging at home is based upon the KWH that it takes to charge our vehicle.  To charge at home costs some less that what we pay at the charging station that charges $1 per hour.  Toyota which made our plug-in/hybrid gave us $100 of free charging.  So we are using that at the nearby charging station.  All in all it is working very well.  For charging at home, we can set our vehicle to charge at whatever time we wish, if we want to make use of time-of-day electric rates.

My wife went out yesterday and after a day of running around somewhat locally, she still had 6 miles on the battery.  IOW, the gasoline engine had not turned on even once during the day.  Depending upon the use of the AC, outside weather and other driving conditions, the battery will drive us from 25 - 31 miles before the gasoline engine kicks into the hybrid mode.  

 

 

[dgrimm60]

GREGORY

I have 2   church members  that  have  hybrid cars---they  both are  very  happy  with then and  said that  they  will  not go back to just  gas  power car

dgrimm60