Hybrid cars first came into the market in 1997 as the Toyota Prius. Since then there are about 5 million hybrid vehicles out of 1 billion vehicles worldwide. ( less than 1% )
Hybrid cars uses half as much fuel as their petrol guzzling cousin, so why is sales penetration so low?
We can trace the problem to several reasons
1) Cost of vehicle : Hybrids generally cost 50% more than it's non hybrid model.
2) Rate of depreciation : Resale value of older hybrids are poor to non existent due to the high cost of hybrid battery replacements
3) Little desire for manufacturers to push this technology as they make more money selling their standard petrol vehicles.
4) Horror stories abound about how much owners have been quoted for repairing their vehicles.
This situation is absolutely ridiculous
We live in an age where our oil resources are depleting at an alarming rate and global warming is having a drastic effect on our environment. Every year brings record floods and droughts and our ice caps and glaciers are disappearing at an alarming rate.
Our vehicles are the major contributor to CO2 emissions into the environment and more should be done to reduce this.
Hybrid vehicles reduce CO2 emissions and reduce use of scarce resources.
1) Longevity of Hybrid vehicles : Hybrid vehicles will last at least twice as long as standard vehicles. We know that vehicles can clock up 600,000 Kms and more with very little deterioration in performance. This glaring fact has never been promoted to the public. This fact alone will reduce the demand on resources and reduction in emissions significantly.
The one problem that is consistently quoted is that the vehicle hybrid battery last 8 to 10 years and replacement is costly. There is a solution. Repairing and reconditioning of the hybrid battery and installation of the Power Jockey will enable the same original battery to be used throughout the life of the vehicles be it 25 years or more and it is no more expensive that yearly vehicle maintenance.
It's time to push the message that hybrid vehicles are not expensive to run and even less expensive to maintain.
How do we get the message across?
The best way is to show that older hybrids are still operating beautifully even after 15 years in service. Another is to push for it's use in an industry that is ideal for it. For this reason we are pushing for this vehicle to be be used exclusively in the vehicle rental industry. Customers will choose a hybrid over a standard vehicle because they save money on fuel. It is also the best way to get the general public to "test drive" this vehicle. I believe we will make a convert out of every hirer,
