Customer Reviews

Hybrid Vehicles: and the Future of Personal Transportation

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a mechanical engineer working on a development project and purchased this newly-released book based on the contents description and author's credentials ("Distinguished professor and SAE Fellow").

I am extremely disappointed with the content of this book. From literally the inside of the front jacket it is full of technical errors and incomprehensible charts. Sentence fragments are pervasive and the writing in general is imprecise and often overly casual. Occasionally the author tosses in seemingly random thoughts that serve to distract the reader. (What does pickup truck tailgate position have to do with hybrid vehicles? Nothing.)

If you overlook the incorrect unit conversions on the jacket (degrees Kelvin??) and flip past the literally 23 page Contents (??!) you come to the Preface, where you will find some clues to what went wrong. The author restates the purpose of the book about four times; "for buyers or would-be buyers of hybrids...", "intended for potential hybrid customers", "information for the educated citizen", "for the engineer...a starting point for additional research". I think I disagree with all of these. As a 460+ page book full of equations this is clearly not a buyer's guide. Unfortunately, no engineer can make use of the contents because it is so full of errors and inconsistencies that any seemingly useful nuggets of information must be researched from scratch to determine their validity. What responsible author cites Wikipedia as the source for a graph used to illustrate a key technical concept? (Figure 7.1)

It is perfectly acceptable to publish a technical book that is not written for engineers. It is another thing entirely to release a book that is full of charts, graphs, equations, and statistics that imply a level of technical accuracy that does not stand up under scrutiny.

My overwhelming impression is that the book was rushed to the printer without adequate proofreading and technical editing. Perhaps the publisher gave in to the pressure to cash in on the fuel economy craze that hit in late 2008, and what could have been a useful and comprehensive technical overview turned into a typed collection of notes. It is indeed a shame, since the basic research and technical understanding was clearly there. The author and/or publisher simply did not have the discipline to properly finish the job. I fear for our collective future as an innovative society if we begin to accept work like this.

I believe there is a place in the market for an interesting and accessible technical overview of hybrid vehicle technologies. This is not that book.

I am a professor of electrical engineering, so I have critically evaluated the portions relevant to my area and found them to be accurate. In the book Dr. Fuhs has covered the four basic areas of power electronics, motor/generators (M/Gs), electrochemistry, and control. He has done a good job of connecting the electrical and mechanical aspects of the hybrid to illustrate the important tradeoffs. Many of his explanations start with basic physics, which allows everyone to follow the analysis.

I also liked the way he treated the commercial aspects of hybrids (the consequences of vehicle size, options, weight, etc.) and explained the nuances of the various vehicle rating systems (a discussion which should definitely be of value to consumers).

The book covers a very broad range of engineering and technology disciplines, and in this sense is unique from all other books on the topic. It has many "gems" of wisdom and thoughtful insight into the area of personal transportation.

As an overview of hybrids, this is an endlessly fascinating book by Allen Fuhs.

Extraordinarily broad in its coverage, it ranges from peak oil (with useful new details) to the differences in suitable electric motors; it is filled with lots of practical nuts-and-bolts calculations that will appeal to the armchair-engineer who enjoys interpreting numbers and juggling costs, pay-offs, and alternatives in range, fuel consumption and weights. (*)

Because of Big Oil disinformation efforts -- see EV web sites and discussions hijacked by AI-generated posts of encyclopedic substance and length -- I don't accept the criticism of other reviewers as necessarily valid.

Big Oil disinformation? Surely you jest? Wally Rippel - WKTEC - "There is a $100T (T as in Trillion) worth of business still to be done (in oil in the ground)." For obvious reasons 'peak oil' and 'global warming' are not popular topics for Big Oil - see the last eight years for details. You bet there is disinformation. And a lot more besides. Got Peter Dale Scott?

I found it in Stanford University's bookstore and, in this case, go by the theory that if it is good enough for Stanford U's engineering students it is good enough for me, and perhaps you. You might try to look at a copy before making your own mind up.

(*) The extraordinary broadness of its coverage and its clever and approachable explanation of the tradeoffs in hybrid vehicle design -- noted by EMprof -- and above all, the clarity of its thinking, are very reminiscent of two works that were outstanding in a different field - Darrol Stinton's The Design of the Aeroplane, and The Anatomy of the Aeroplane - two magnificent books for those interested in another EAA - the Experimental Aircraft Association.

Another EAA; since the EV was (re) born and the Electric Auto Association became more widely known.

This book is very comprehensible to an intelligent individual. There is a wealth of both qualitative and quantitative information that is fundamental to understanding hybrid vehicles and automobiles in general. For me the book provides a sound basis for discussing the merits of these vehicles and their role in solving our energy problems. Allen Fuhs is an extremely competent engineer who writes with clarity about both the details and the processes appropriate to this topic. I gave a copy of the book to a friend who does automotive design and he is also very enthusiastic about the contents of this book.