Stimulating Hybrids
One of the largest stumbling blocks facing the deployment of
hybrid vehicles is the lack of infrastructure. And let’s face it; a recession
isn’t exactly the best time to sell companies and businesses on a nationwide
network of charging stations that service a minority of motorists. Yet the time
for change is now and President Obama knows that well and so while cash is
being allocated to bail out those companies entrenched in the fallout from the
sub-prime mortgage crisis he’s managed to divert $2.4 billion towards
developing hybrid technology.
While touring the Southern California Edison’s electric vehicle testing center Obama
announced the stimulus package that would develop hybrid car infrastructure
with the goal of overseeing one million plug-in hybrids on the roads by 2015.
The money will be distributed by the Department of Energy and thanks to some
streamlined protocols the cash will get there faster. The package will be
weighted towards battery technology and manufacturing capacity. The rest of the
cash will go towards lithium-ion battery recycling as well as additional cash going
towards the development of hybrid components.
Toyota’s MR2 Hybrid
And while the US government is expanding hybrid infrastructure,
automakers are continuing to sensationalize the hybrid vehicle. Toyota, for
example, is preparing to revive the MR2 sports car [concept pictured above], scrapped back in 2007. This
time around the roadster design has been replaced by that of a compact coupe
and the powertrain is a unique version of Toyota’s more affordable hybrid the
Prius.
Billed as a blend of performance and fuel economy, the
hybrid MR2 is, according to Toyota executive vice president Masatami Takimoto, ‘affordably
priced’ at $28,000USD. Autoexpress speculates that the MR2 could achieve 0-60mph
in seven seconds with 60mpg.
Whether the market really needs another ‘sports car’ hybrid (an
almost incongruous pairing of words) is debatable, however if it appeases auto aficionados
and helps bring ubiquity to the hybrid market then that’s good enough. It also
just so happens that sportier cars tend to make for better headlines and so the
fact that Toyota has 10 family hybrids launching in the next 12 months isn’t an
oft publicized fact. Now if the other automakers could wake up and smell the
CO2 we just might have cars for this brand new infrastructure.
