Hybrid cars, which run on both petrol and electricity, got a touch of glamour on Oscar night in 2004 when Robin Williams, known for his cuddly space-mobile in the US television comedy Mork & Mindy, drove up in a Toyota Prius. This hybrid car, first unveiled at the 1995 Tokyo Motor Show, is now on its way to becoming a green cult classic. Thanks, in no small measure, to galloping oil prices coupled with escalating fears of global warming. Fuel efficiency is clearly the order of the day. Other auto makers are rushing to launch their own versions of this wonder car that?s claimed to deliver over 22 km to the litre, about twice what equivalently sized petrol-only cars typically give. The technology to combine a combustion engine with an electric motor for propulsion, with the former geared to take over once the speed crosses a limit and the wheels are in easy motion, is not difficult to replicate. The question is one of whether the hybrid engine can be made at low enough cost. The good news is that the concept has succeeded, and volumes in the US have grown large. According to a JD Power and Associated Automotive forecast, by 2009 sales of hybrid cars in the US will nearly double to about 4% of all passenger car sales. That could be 400,000 units or more. Prius currently has half the US market, and challengers are bound to have a go at it.
What about the rest of the world? China is pushing its state-owned carmakers to develop a domestic hybrid market, and some 30 such models will be available there by 2010. At home, Mahindra & Mahindra is all set to introduce a hybrid Scorpio in the second half of 2008 (homologation tests are on). The vehicle, powered by a diesel engine and an electric motor, would boast of a mileage of 15-16 km per litre (an SUV naturally guzzles more than a car). Toyota and Ford are also exploring such possibilities in India, now that Union Budget 2008-09 has slashed excise on hybrid cars from 24% to 14%. If hybrids catch on in India, it would be terrific. More power to the fuel efficient, by all means. But let?s not fool ourselves into believing that their adoption is sufficient to stall the fuel crisis staring the country in the face. For that, one needs first a full fuel price revision.
