Part-time, or hybrid, electric cars make a lot more sense than full-time electric cars. That’s probably why all the right people are pushing for full-time electric cars. From Eric Peters at ericpetersautos.com:
Hybrids are really part-time electric cars.
They have battery packs and electric motors, like full-time electric cars – but they don’t rely on them exclusively for propulsion, as a full-time electric car does. They aren’t dependent entirely on electricity as their fuel.
Which is why they are the only electric cars that make practical – as well as economic – sense.
Which probably explains why they’re being shunted aside in favor of full-time electric cars (punchline at the end of this rant).
The combustion engine a part-time hybrid carries provides much of the motive force for propulsion; it also provides fuel-on-the-go for the electric side of the drivetrain – converting gas (via combustion) into electricity to continuously recharge the battery pack as the vehicle is driven.
What a snappy idea!
It eliminates the range problem that the pure electric car has. You can drive the part-time electric car pretty much anywhere without obsessing about the battery’s state of charge. And how far you can go – before it stops.
So long as the tank has gas, you’re good to go. . . right now.
Which brings us to the other problem the part-time electric car hasn’t got – the rechargeproblem.
Which is really a time problem. But only if you are driving a full-time electric car.
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