[Greg Reimer 7376]

I've worked on cars for 40 years. I've worked at the City of Los Angeles vehicle fleet services shop for 25 years now. We had to phase out all our Chevy Cavaliers for the first gen Prius in 2003.We also got Honda Civic hybrids at the same time. The Prius caused us more problems with electrical issues and dead starting batteries,etc all of which went warranty(when you buy cars by the hundreds, they fix stuff on warranty if they ever want to sell more cars to us),and while the Civics weren't perfect, they were far better than the prius.The Honda looks conventional and drives much more like a gas only car without some of the hybrid ideosyncrasies ,and thry didn't seem to break down as much.Both manufacturers have offered warranty computer updates and free(warranty),and Honda offers free pick up and delivery. Problem with a warranty glitch,even though the fix is free,I have to send someone to drive it, and someone else to pick him up in another car or the shop truck for a minimum of two man hours,then two more to pick it up after repairs are completed by the dealer,for a total of four hours shop time. That's substantial overhead per repair.Also,much of LA's drive time is freeway,and neither car offers hardly any mileage improvement over surface streets. The idea is a good one,but it isn't practical for all applications. Still, these cars are past the guinea pig stage,and other than the main battery pack replacement issue( who'se going to pay for it?),they aren't at all impractical.The whole concept ot the hybrid isn't a new one,at all. In the 1920's, in an ever increasing search for more power, more reliability, and less costs of operation,the nation's railroads were constantly experimenting with new forms of motive power. Hooking a gas engine to a transmission and a gear driven drivetrain to a drive axle didn't work with rail wheels. A torque converter automatic didn't exist then but hydraulic gas and diesel powered locomotives were tried, and the thing that eventually won was the construction of electric drive engines based on a large version of a streetcar powertrain.After all,when does an electric motor develop max torque?Dead stall, when you are trying to get a train to leave the line. Add a large capacity generator to provide the electricity and a large prime mover(engine to drive the generator), and you have a self contained,self generating diesel hybrid electric propulsion unit. In the late 1930's General Motors built prototype demonstrater units, toured the country with them, sold as many as they could build, and their money came in faster than they could count it. Between 1920 and 1960, they repowered an entire industry from steam to diesel. During WW II, the demand for rail transportation by the military resulted in the need for more power,but diesel engines were in demand for tanks,ships,and submarines, and some of the finest, best and most powerful and efficient steam locomotives were built, then only used for about a decade. Most were scrapped with less than 25% of their service life used. I guess all things come around again, however.Seems to me, a small light diesel engine would be great for driving a hybrid. That could actually be a 100 mpg car.