Hybrid Watchdog: Are Automakers Trying to Kill Their Own Hybrid Market?

Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) are an exciting addition to the vehicle marketplace. At last, several clean vehicle options are available to American consumers.  Hybridcenter.org is designed to be a resource that explains hybrid technology and explores current mild, full, and “muscle” hybrid models with a thorough, scientifically-sound investigation.  As you explore this site, certain models will be presented in a more favorable light because not all vehicles called hybrids use the technology in the same way and have the same environmental and oil savings benefits.  Yet for all the promise this technology holds, automakers are engaging in two distinct efforts that may undermine their own hybrid market. 

Blocking Emission Reductions: Automakers v. the People

The major automakers—including Toyota, Honda, and Ford who currently sell hybrids to consumers—have joined in a lawsuit against California's landmark greenhouse gas regulations for autos.  The regulations would reduce global warming emissions from passenger vehicles nearly 30 percent by 2016.  Seven other states are already poised to adopt the same regulations, impacting over a quarter of the U.S. auto market. 

The California global warming regulations would provide a major boon to the hybrid market, and Toyota, Honda, and Ford have all admitted the need to reduce global warming emissions.  Yet they are all willing to send their lawyers to court to block progress on the issue rather than fire up hybrid vehicle production or make the cost-effective, off-the-shelf adjustments to their conventional vehicles needed to obey the law and take advantage of the expanded clean car market.  In the end, this lawsuit hurts their image and undercuts the driving public’s interest in hybrid vehicles.  And, without standards that require fleetwide reductions, emissions savings from hybrid vehicles could readily be swamped by increased sales of high-polluting cars.  To find out more about the industry lawsuit, please visit our Automakers v. The People campaign.

Emission Problem “Solved”?  Automaker False Advertising

Even more perplexing is the new PR campaign by the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the lobbyist and PR group representing automakers including Ford, Toyota, GM, BMW, and DaimlerChrysler.  In print ads saturating the Capitol Hill media market in Washington DC and at auto shows around the country, the Alliance has asserted that, “Autos manufactured today are virtually emission-free.” 

This claim comes in spite of the facts that today’s autos emit more global warming pollution than they did 20 years ago, and even if every single car on the road met the stricter 2009 federal emissions standards for smog, the fleet would still spew some 500,000 tons of smog-forming pollutants every year.  For more details on the Alliance’s deceptive ad claims and the UCS response ad, click here.

Through their deceptive ad claim, they are, in effect, attempting to “spin” themselves out of the pollution debate entirely, be it smog, global warming, or cancer-causing toxics.  Compounding that, by implying that all of today’s autos are “virtually emission-free” automakers are undermining one of the most distinctive and attractive features of many of their hybrid vehicles. 

One such example has already cropped up.  The Denver Post reported that the Aspen Police replaced their fleet of Saab sedans with the Volvo XC90 SUV.  Each of these sports utility vehicles has a conventional gasoline engine that emits nearly 6 tons of Carbon Dioxide annually, which is more heat-trapping emissions than the Saabs they replaced.  Yet Aspen Mayor Helen Klanderud said in her town these higher-end vehicles are “more geared toward being at the head of the pack environmentally.”  How could these SUVs be so environmentally responsible when they offer no global warming pollution savings over the Crown Victorias they replaced?  Easy.  The Denver Post misleadingly reports that these vehicles are “virtually emission free.” 

Worse still the article reports that Aspen police researched the possibility of switching to gas/electric vehicles, but they learned those evolving hybrids may not yet be up to the task of stop-and-go town driving and powering all the flashing lights and extra electronic gadgets required in police work.  Of course, hybrid electric vehicles like the Ford Escape Hybrid SUV provide better low-end torque (and are more efficient) in city driving because of the battery-assist to the gasoline engine and have plenty of energy left over for flashing lights, as police departments using the Toyota Prius can already attest.  Had the Aspen police force purchased the Ford Escape Hybrid, it would emit 3.7 tons of heat-trapping gases rather than the XC90’s almost 6 tons, a significant step in the right direction.  However, as long as the industry tries to convince consumers that all of today’s vehicles are free from emissions, how will they ever convince the public of the value of investing in a genuinely lower emissions hybrid electric vehicle?

Cleaning Up Their Act and Their Vehicles

The goal of Hybridcenter.org is to educate the public about the exciting new technology of hybrid electric vehicles, which unfortunately includes dispelling the myths propagated by the automakers.  The hope is that through this site, the public can learn the differences between the hybrids available on the market.  Being knowledgeable about genuinely clean technology allows consumers to make a decision that is fiscally and environmentally responsible.