Hybrids can be truly wonderful things.
Some of the greats include the clock radio, Greek lore’s fierce Minotaur, and, of course, Tex-Mex food. The bad have brought us one-man bands and the Snuggie®.
The theory of hybridization spawned the creation of merged gas and electric vehicles. Combining an internal combustion engine with an electric propulsion system, hybrid vehicles are the conveyance of choice for the green-minded, and are now also opening new doors for the automotive manufacturing industry.
Hybrid vehicles are not, however, a new development.
Automotive design guru Ferdinand Porsche is actually credited with developing the first gasoline/electric vehicle way back in 1899. The Lohner-Porsche Mixte hybrid vehicle was definitely ahead of its time. The Mixte’s gasoline engine rotated at a constant speed, which drove a dynamo and charged the car’s accumulators. These energy-storing devices fed electric current to motors housed in the hubs of the front wheels and propelled the automobile.
Even the word automobile is a hybrid of sorts. The Greek word auto, meaning self, and the Latin word mobilis, which means movable, are the foundation for the word.
I wonder, however, if this type of vehicle is really the one that will revolutionize the driving industry. Is it another step forward in automobile evolution that will one day lead us to George Jetson’s flying car? Or is it a fad destined for punch lines and trivia questions on Jeopardy?
Delphic oracle I am not. But common sense tells me that a vehicle that produces fewer noxious emissions while at the same time stretches the distance you can travel on a tank of gas will be the next big thing.
While Toyota, with more than 2 million hybrid vehicles sold, and rival Honda are topping the sales charts, Ford, Chevrolet, and even luxury-minded Lexus are all jumping into the marketplace with both feet.
Hybrid-vehicle sales are increasing, especially to the king of all consumerism, the U.S. That alone is enough to spark significant interest from the major players in the automotive world, and should mean that we will start to see more hybrid platforms on the roads.
Let’s just hope that it doesn’t take another 111 years to come to fruition.
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