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For these and many other reasons, the hybrid engine has emerged as the more practical power source of the near future. Hybrid cars combine both an electric motor and an internal combustion gas-driven engine. This combination has the benefit of both types of power plants without the problems of the super clean but limited range electric cars. These cars produce significantly lower emissions and get remarkable gas mileage. The hybrid’s batteries don’t require recharging because they are continuously recharged by the gasoline engine and through regenerative braking. Sophisticated hybrids like the Honda VV and the Toyota Prius are run by computer that automatically alternates between gas engine and electric motor depending on the driving situation. In a conventional car it is this period from a stop to fifteen miles per hour that produces the most exhaust. The Prius, therefore, employs the electric motor in early acceleration. Faster acceleration may require both engines, and at highway speed the cars most commonly use the gas engine. However, in stop-and-go city traffic, when speed is not a factor, the hybrid cars switch to electric power. Eventually there is little reason why hybrid technology can’t be applied to other larger types of vehicles, including public buses, SUVs, sedans, trucks, and vans.
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Photo: Michael Moran
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All of these innovations represent an early step in the transformation that the automobile is soon to assume. These automobiles are a preview of the first generation in the reconsideration of the automobile. Some of these cars are in production, some will be soon, and some are prototypes that may never come to the market in their present form. The ideal car of the future is likely to incorporate and synthesize certain elements from each one. We have attempted here to highlight nine differing views in the hopes of provoking thought and debate as to what kind of automobiles we will be and should be driving in the early part of the next millennium.
In regard to the ever increasing problems that modern automobiles and their users have exacerbated–pollution, overcrowding, and the precariousness of oil reserves–we can be optimistic based on the exceptional technology that will be available shortly. These cars all offer very real solutions. They are produced by major manufacturers and should be available at reasonable prices–a technology that is too expensive for widespread application would be useless. The circumstances are not yet so dire that one cannot be hopeful that human ingenuity will meet the challenges necessary to permit the continued use and proliferation of the private automobile.
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