Hybrid Gas Electric Vehicles

Bob Lutz sounds like he's about to change his name to Reddy Kilowatt. Lutz, vice chairman of General Motors Corp., was in town this week to talk about his company's 2008 vehicle lineup. But the subject that really got his engine humming was the Volt, GM's potentially revolutionary battery-powered concept car. The Volt incorporates GM's E-Flex electric drive system, functioning as a plug-in hybrid with a 40-mile, all-electric range. "This vehicle is about allowing most Americans to make their daily trips without having to hear the sound of an internal combustion engine," Lutz said.

On a much smaller scale, Aptera Motors Inc. of Carlsbad, Calif., plans to unveil its three-wheel hybrid/electric vehicle at a semiprivate confab this weekend. Called the Typ-1 (no, that's not a typo), the car is the latest advanced-technology vehicle to roll off the drawing board of someone not employed by GM, Toyota or one of the other big auto companies. Plans call for having the Typ-1 in production by October 2008, with an initial goal of making 10 cars a month at a facility in Carlsbad, said Steve Fambro, founder and chief executive of Aptera.

I had to go to Japan to do it, but I finally got my hands on a plug-in hybrid. Not one of those hacked Priuses that after-market modifiers will produce in exchange for several thousand dollars and a canceled warranty. This was the real thing, built by Toyota at its research labs in Japan as part of its program to get a workable plug-in hybrid to market. Toyota Motor Corp.

Hybrid gas-electric vehicles have been around for more than six years, yet many people still don't understand how they work. Do you have to plug them in? Will they run out of electricity? The Camry's system provides a useful primer to the intricacies of hybrid technology. Not all hybrids are created equal. Toyota's uses a so-called "full-hybrid" system, in which the vehicle can move at low speeds on the strength of its electric motor alone, like a golf cart.

It was a tough sell. But Noordin Nanji, marketing vice president of Ballard Power Systems Inc., was determined. Accompanied by his publicist, Nanji walked the floors of the sprawling Cobo Center in January, collaring journalists attending the North American International Auto Show to make his pitch. He was pushing fuel cells, specifically proton-exchange-membrane fuel cells produced by his company, which is based in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.

General Motors Corp. will invest $118 million and add 87 jobs at a factory near Baltimore to build a fuel-saving gasoline-electric hybrid system that it will share with DaimlerChrysler and BMW, the automaker said Wednesday. The system combines two electric motors, which operate when the gasoline engine isn't being used, in a transmission-like unit. Production will begin next year at a GM transmission plant in White Marsh, Md., the company said.

Consumer Reports magazine said it erred in maintaining in an article in its April issue that none of the gasoline-electric hybrid cars and sport utility vehicles sold in the United States would save owners enough money in five years of use to make up for their higher prices. Including fuel savings and tax credits, Consumer Reports said, the Toyota Prius hybrid would save about $400 over five years and the Honda Civic hybrid would save about $300 compared with conventionally powered models.

Ford Motor Co. is offering five-year, no-interest financing on its gasoline-electric Escape sport utility vehicle in California and Washington, D.C., to boost sales in those "trend-setting markets." The loans are available through April 3. The interest-free loans will be available only to customers with the highest credit ratings, a Ford spokesman said.

Toyota Motor Corp., the world's largest seller of cars powered by a combination of gasoline and electricity, will build a hybrid model of its Lexus LS sedan in 2007. It will be the luxury brand's most expensive model to date. The Lexus LS600hL will arrive in the U.S. in early 2007 with a V-8 engine and electric motor that produce more than 430 horsepower, the company said. Its price hasn't been set.

Nissan Motor Co. said it would offer its gasoline-electric Altima model only in the U.S. Northeast and California. Sales of the 2007 model, available next year, are being limited to states that have adopted versions of California's so-called zero-emissions vehicle mandate, which requires the largest automakers to offer hybrids.