Christine & Scott's Hybrid Cars & Alt Fuels Blog

It's been around for just a little while now, the Toyota Camry Hybrid. Actually, the hybrid package was introduced with the completely redesigned 2007 lineup--and it hasn't changed much from day one. At first we found the car's bold styling a bit much, but the passage of time, with its edge salving and wound healing ways, has softened our stance. Peruse the photo gallery from our week long test drive. Study the pics of the 2009 Toyota Camry Hybrid and see if this car strikes you as a sore sight for eyes or a sight for sore eyes.

Camry badge © Scott Gable

The Camry is Toyota's bread-and-butter, ever reliable, family sedan. In hybrid trim, it's all that and more. Aside from the everybody-loves-it Prius, which has always been, and continues to be, the benchmark for all vehicles hybrid, the Camry Hybrid is slowly and ever-so-surely leaving its own distinctive green mark in the automotive world. What is it about this car? No doubt it has a well deserved reputation for rock-solid, if less than exciting, don't-let-me-down dependability, but it also fills a small (though growing) niche of gotta have-a-little-more-room-than-a-Prius enviro car buyers. Check out our review of the 2009 Toyota Camry Hybrid for the full scoop.

Hybrid Synergy Drive badge © Scott Gable

It's that time again ... for our monthly update on the most recent addition to our alt fuel fleet, the 2008 Nissan Altima Hybrid:

Mileage: 8876

Fuel economy: 42.5 mpg

Weather conditions: Summer, ah summer. August has been pleasant, without as much of the hot, humid heat of other years. Days have been sunny, and nights cooler with a hint of September in the air.

Maintenance/Repairs: None, other than a periodic regular check of oil and tire pressure. We've been running tires at 35 psi, and confirmed that all was well before we headed out on a week's vacation to Cincinnati, about 525 miles one-way. While the Altima Hybrid can offer up to 700 miles per tank and has been averaging 42 mpg on daily jaunts, this long trip's fuel economy rang in at 35 mpg.

Unlike regular gasoline engines that return better highway fuel economy numbers than they do around town in traffic, the Altima's full hybrid system actually works opposite from that. It doesn't utilize the fuel saving electric motor nearly as much at highway speeds as it does around town. When running around town we can sometimes drive two or three miles at a time, on electric power alone (engine off), consuming no gasoline, whereas when traveling at highway speeds--even though the electric motor will phase in and out to assist--the gasoline engine is always running (and burning fuel). Even though the fuel mileage dropped on this long roadtrip, we really don't feel like we can complain much: 35 mpg in a better-than 4000 pound, 5-passenger plush and comfy family sedan ain't too bad. And it certainly was nice to make the one-way trip on just one tank of fuel, with extra left over.

photo © Adrian Gable - 2008 Nissan Altima Hybrid

This past Monday, a cavalcade of hydrogen powered vehicles set off from Portland, Maine on what has been dubbed, "The Hydrogen Road Tour." Sponsored by The California Fuel Cell Partnership (CaFCP), U S. Department of Transportation, U.S Department of Energy and the National Hydrogen Association, the caravan is expected to reach Santa Monica, California on August 23, 2008.

With the goal of showcasing the progress made by both industry and government in commercializing hydrogen as a transportation "fuel," vehicles from BMW, Daimler, Ford, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen are participating. In addition, worldwide hydrogen producers, Air Products and Chemicals Inc. and Linde Group, have a presence.

Most of the vehicles in the convoy will be fuel cell powered with the lone exception being the BMW Hydrogen 7 which uses an internal combustion engine engineered to run exclusively on hydrogen (though they do offer a bi-fuel gasoline/hydrogen version as well). Many of the fleet's fueling stops will occur in major metropolitan areas that together compose a large number of the 61 current hydrogen fueling stations across America. Supplemental fueling will be provided by mobile stations managed and serviced by Air Products and Linde. According to a CaFCP press release, Catherine Dunwoody, the organization's executive director, said "Bringing these vehicles to market requires continued commitment from government and industry. Building convenient, accessible hydrogen stations is crucial in the next five years."

We're happy and excited to see this cross-country tour take place. We've long been big proponents of hydrogen powered transportation, and it's great to see the hardware and equipment out for public display. As is so true with any new/unknown technology, awareness and education are of paramount importance.

Hydrogen refueling process © BMW

No matter which way you figure it, fuel is expensive these days. And most of us are looking for ways to get better fuel mileage, unload the gas guzzler, or even convert—leaving gasoline out of the equation altogether. If you, like quite a few of our letter-writing-readers, are exploring converting to compressed natural gas (CNG), perhaps one of these companies offers a conversion kit that’ll work for you. Figuring, of course, that you’ve got a CNG fueling station in your neighborhood.

Here's the current list of CNG conversion kit and installation companies—please let us know if we’ve missed any that should be included.

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) has recently announced plans to form a collaborative effort with Southern California Edison (SCE) for an extended testing and evaluation period of the MiEV all-electric vehicle in U.S. markets. For the last couple of years, MMC has been conducting extensive testing of the MiEV in Japan, and the successful results have encouraged company officials to bump-up introduction to the Japanese market to 2009 and begin earnest testing in America right away.

SEC has something to gain as well. They hope to learn, along with Mitsubishi, how electric vehicles can most effectively connect to "smart grids" (electricity distribution networks that use advanced communications and computers to efficiently and reliably dispense electricity to end users) in general and to new generation Edison SmartConnect advanced meters in particular. According to a Mitsubishi press release, Edward Kjaer, SCE's director of electric transportation had this to say: "Southern California Edison has more than 20 years and 16 million EV miles of experience operating the nation's largest fleet of electric vehicles. This new EV collaboration with Mitsubishi complements SCE's existing work on plug-in hybrids and next-generation advanced batteries and their effective connection and control by Edison's next-generation meters."

The MiEV electric vehicle uses a zero-emissions electric drivetrain consisting of a heavy-duty 330-volt lithium-ion battery pack and 47 kW electric traction motor. This battery, developed by Mitsubishi in joint partnership with GS Yuasa, Lithium Energy Japan, promises a range of up to 100 miles on a single charge when packaged in the MiEV.

This all sounds soooo good. But remember ... we've been down this road before with the state of California and the General Motors EV-1. Recall that? The California Air Resources Board was pushing very hard for zero emissions, California utilities built charging stations galore, and GM delivered dozens and dozens of EV-1s to eager So Cal customers. Even Ford (Ranger EV), Toyota (RAV4 EV) and Honda (EV Plus) jumped on the band wagon. Yet, all of this support notwithstanding, it still all went up in smoke. It hurts to see these promising technologies get eaten-up by the political machine. Let's just hope all parties have their heads screwed on straight this time.

i MiEV plug-in electric car - photo © Mitsubishi Motors

I recently had the opportunity to schedule a tour of the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky (TMMK) facility while visiting family in Ohio (the photo shows me with daughter Jenny and nephew Tyler at the entrance to the plant). We were fortunate to be staying only a little over an hour's drive from the Georgetown, KY plant where Camrys, Camry Hybrids, Solaras and Avalons are assembled. Interestingly, my tour coincided with the arrival of our test drive of the 2009 Toyota Camry Hybrid back in Pennsylvania--review soon-to-come. I couldn't help but get excited when I had this opportunity to see first-hand how these hybrids are assembled on the same line as the conventional Camrys.

And of course, I couldn't wait to show you this handful of assembly line photos of the Toyota Camry Hybrid. Enjoy. --Christine

TMMK entrance - photo © Adrian Gable

When the good folks at Mercedes-Benz decided to give their entry-level C class a makeover for model year 2008, it was a good move, a very good move. In luxury trim, this car just has the look. It's distinctive and refined, yet sporty and aggressive. And to top it off, flex-fuel E85-compatibility gives this baby its green stripes too.

Come feast your eyes on the 2008 Mercedes-Benz C300 luxury edition flex-fueler.

2008 Mercedes-Benz C300 - photo © Adrian Gable

There is just something about Mercedes-Benz ... tradition, yes ... superior craftsmanship, no doubt ... cutting edge design and technology, yes, for sure ... but still there's something else. I've been thinking about this for a good week now, ever since we parted ways with our '08 Benz C300 tester, and I'm still unable to describe it--maybe that's why, Mercedes-Benz just has IT. Like Richard Petty has IT... like Princess Diana had IT ... so does Mercedes-Benz have IT, that indescribable appeal, mystique and magnetism. It seems that everybody who gets near a Benz is just enamored with it, just wants to drive it, and yes, just wants to own it.

Come read our test drive and review of the 2008 Mercedes-Benz C300 luxury sedan and see how this flex-fueler from Stuttgart, Deutschland got under our skin. --Scott

Mercedes-Benz Star - photo © Adrian Gable

General Motors just announced plans to offer a $4,000 cash bonus on the purchase of a new 2008 GMC Yukon or Yukon XL Hybrid (plus the conventional models) starting today. The hybrid is also eligible for $2,000 customer cash which makes the grand total savings $6,000 on the two-mode. As you may remember, we had the opportunity to test drive the '08 GMC Yukon Hybrid 2WD, plus a preview of its cousin, the 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid. $750 bonus purchase cash is also being offered on the 2008 GMC Sierra HD flex-fuel pickup, along with a handful of other conventional models also.

So we can't help but wonder: Would you seriously consider buying the 2008 Yukon Hybrid SUV due to this incentive?

• Yes
  
• No

According to the Automotive News article, these incentives are slated to run through August 19 and could change once earnings figures are released--we'll let you know if that's the case later today.