4.0 out of 5 stars
Lots covered in 48 pages, with links to more on web, November 23, 2011
(This review is actually for a hardbound library edition copyright 2009.)
Chapter 1 "The Energy Crisis" provides background including these ideas:
gasoline was in short supply in 1973 and 1974, and again in 1979;
gasoline is made from oil, which is a fossil fuel that will not last forever;
electric cars sold better than gasoline cars in the early 1900s, but could not go very far or fast;
with better roads in the 1920s, gasoline cars sold better because they were well suited for longer trips;
in tne 1970s, gasoline cars converted to use battery power could drive less than 100 miles between charges;
in the 1990s, electric cars were faster, but still had limited range, and recharges took hours;
since 1995, middle and high school students can take part in electric and alternative fuel vehicle challenges.
Chapter 2 "Developing Hybrid Cars" starts the main topic:
early hybrids by Porsche (1902) and Woods (1905) were not widely accepted;
in 1993, Toyota started design of a car to double the 24 miles per gallon (mpg) of their fuel-efficient Corolla;
the rejected first design was for a car with a gas engine estimated to provide 47.5 mpg;
the design team worked 16-hour days and used computer simulations to narrow 80 designs for a hybrid down to one;
a prototype Prius was shown at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1995;
Toyota released the Prius to the public in October 1997;
the Prius uses regenerative braking to charge the battery while slowing the car.
Chapter 3 "Changing the History of Automaking" continues with:
the Prius sold well in Japan, and Toyota began producing 1,000 hybrid cars per month;
the Toyota Prius and Ford Escape are called "true hybrids";
the Honda Insight and Saturn Vue and Aura are called "mild hybrids";
the two-passenger Insight tested at 70 mpg, the larger Prius at 45 mpg in highway driving;
the Honda Insight arrived in the US in December 1999, the Toyota Prius in July 2000;
people waited months to buy the second generation Prius;
US sales of the Prius doubled in 2004 and nearly doubled again in 2005;
in 2006, of the 17 million cars and trucks sold in the US, 250,000 (1.5%) of them were hybrids;
by 2008, every major automaker had come up with its own hybrid car.
Chapter 4 "What's Next?" goes on with:
old hybrids got their electricity from the gasoline engine;
new "plug-in" hybrids can get their electricity from a wall socket while parked in a garage overnight;
lithium ion batteries hold a charge well, but can catch fire if they overheat;
in 2008, Honda released its first hydrogen vehicle, the FCX Clarity, which can drive 270 miles before refueling;
Honda can provide a Home Energy Station, which can refill the Clarity's tank in five minutes;
the Home Energy Station uses natural gas and needs a day to store enough hydrogen to fill the Clarity's tank;
the Home Energy Station can also produce electricity, heat, and hot water for the home;
Iceland has several hydrogen buses made by Daimler-Chrysler, plus a hydrogen refueling station;
in 2008, India's Tata Motors began selling the Air Car, which uses compressed air to drive a turbine;
the Air Car can drive 125 miles on a tank of air, at speeds up to 70 miles per hour;
the tank can be refilled in about three minutes at a cost of about two dollars.
My main quibble with this book is with this statement on page 16:
"A hybrid car has both a gasoline engine and an electric battery."
I think a better statement would be:
"A hybrid car is propelled by an electric motor which draws power from a large battery, along with a gasoline engine to be used when battery power runs out or is not sufficient."
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