I’m not going to talk about EVs because they present a charging and power distribution challenge.
However, there are quite some hybrids on the road now. But why hybrid cars still aren’t selling as well as traditional gasoline?
First, batteries don’t last very long, are expensive to replace, are very heavy and also may potentially have safety issues in a crash (due to short circuit). And we really don’t know how much environmental damage is done actually making batteries. So now there’s 10 year warranties and all, but all that extra money just to put heavy batteries in a car? Really?
I know about all that alternate fuel thing, so yes fossil fuels are running out, we’re all going die (not because of the lack of fuel but likely to war over fuel), and we need to find alternative energy.
Okay, never mind. Here’s what I think is the biggest problem with hybrids: they simply all look like crap.
Here’s a few we all know. The Toyota Prius and Honda CRZ.
Why do hybrids have to look like that? Were they designed out of function (they need space for big batteries) or were the Japanese thinking of fancy looking hatches to attract the “save the world” folks? Hey, those “green” folks don’t wear weird clothes, do they?
What about the hybrid models of existing sedans? Why do they have to make something glow in blue, like the logo of the Camry?
Or even BMW, why does the ActiveHybrid 3 have such ugly wheels? For aerodynamics – really? After adding a few hundred kilos of batteries?
Why can’t the BMW 5 series hybrid be called the BMW 535ih instead of ActiveHybrid 5? That badge looks like crap.
At least Fiat is doing it right… the Fiat 500e looks awesome.
Car makers — why can’t you make a hybrid look like a normal car?