

Ford makes big promises for small engines








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RE: About time...
By teldar on 1/7/2008 6:02:19 PM , Rating: 3
Actually, I think some of the links provide considerably more information than this story does.
One of them I read says that diesel takes approximately 7.5 years to pay back and hybrid 12 years, of course it's going to depend on driving styles.
My brother's an engineer for a major parts manufacturer, Magna (world wide, not just NA), and he figures this was finally a step in the right direction. He works mostly with Ford and has been really impressed at the efficiency of these engines for their cost as compared to other technologies out there.


RE: About time...
By Alexstarfire on 1/7/2008 7:32:07 PM , Rating: 2
12 years for a hybrid? On what numbers? I can't believe the numbers you're giving me, that's just way too far off. I mean, if they compare the car to something like a Scion, then perhaps, but that's because Scions are cheap and get pretty decent mileage. Many people buy $15k cars or more, just from what I've seen. I got my Prius for $15.5k used, as opposed to new, and I have easily already made my money back, and it's barely been more than a year. I guess it really depends on how much people normally spend, how long they keep their car, how much that specific person spend on their car, the mileage that car gets, and how much they drive per year. I know that I probably spent less on my car than what many people spend on new cars, but I get over 2x the mileage they do.

This "new" technology is better than nothing, but technology can only overcome so much. You can't get cheap, bigger, more powerful, faster, and more fuel efficient all at the same time, at least not forever. We're nearly tapping out all we can from ICEs already. We are eventually going to have to change our habits, or have a major breakthrough in technology.

RE: About time...
By aeroengineer1 on 1/7/2008 9:49:55 PM , Rating: 2
You obviously have not done a side by side comparison of the cost that it will take to run a Hybrid car vs a standard car. There are more things that factor into it than saving gas. Now you have an extra system that costs you money to repair. You must understand that these batteries that are being put into the Hybrids have a certain life. In other words they will need to be replaced. The average life of these batteries is between 7-12 years depending on the battery technology used. Figure at least a few thousand dollars to replace the battery. Now you start to see that it takes a really long time for a Hybrid to make economical sense.

RE: About time...
12 years for a hybrid? On what numbers?







RE: About time...

