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It wasn't until the late 1960s after the U.S. Congress launched bills suggesting that producing electric vehicles would help cut air pollution, that renewed interest in alternative transportation was revived. General Motors tested an experimental hybrid car that used electricity up to 13 mpg, then switched to a gas engine, although it only reached 40 mpg. After the 1973 Arab oil embargo, gas prices mounted, and concern for developing an effective alternative was increased.
The U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) considered many options including a German produced gas-electric hybrid that traveled more than 8,000 miles. The U.S. Energy Research and Administration also studied various hybrid possibilities to advance technology. The Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Research, Development and Demonstration Act of 1976 spurred cooperation between the government and private industry to progress hybrid development.
By the late 1970s General Motors was expending more than $20 million on electric vehicle research and promised effective cars by the mid-80s. By the early 1990s the DOE introduced the Advanced Battery Consortium program to improve nickel hydride batteries that would accept greater charges than previous lead-acid types. In 1993 the DOE initiated the Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) program as a partnership with the three largest U.S. car manufacturers: GM, Ford and Chrysler.
Their joint goal was to have realistic models by 2000 and usable vehicles by 2003 - keeping costs, safety and operation in line with conventional cars, but with double the mileage. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which managed the joint research program, continues to work within the car industry to assist in ongoing progress in HEV development offering its technical proficiency.
Over the next few years, several automakers offered electric vehicles
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Ford Ranger pickup
Courtesy of Ford Motor Company
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for sale starting in California, including Toyota's RAV4, Ford's Ranger pickup and Honda's EV Plus. Sales were not enthusiastic enough to continue the programs, so the manufacturers went back to the HEV concept with Toyota issuing the four-door Prius in Japan in 1997 and the U.S. in 2000. Honda introducing the two-door Insight in 1999 with a 60-70 mpg and in 2002, Honda's Civic Hybrid made a big splash offering almost double the mpg of the non-hybrid Civic and all the performance quality.
With the Toyota Prius II winning the 2004 Car of the Year Award from Motor Trend Magazine, this car manufacturer knows it's doing something right. It has recently picked up production to keep up with the demand, although the Prius and Civic Hybrid both have waiting lists of anywhere from one week to one year for the new 2005 Prius.
Honda will be dropping the tiny two-seater Insight by 2005 as it was developed primarily as their test car to obtain the best possible mileage. All other automakers from GM to Ford to DaimlerChrysler are waiting in the wings with their versions, and an estimated seven new hybrid vehicles will be available for purchase in the U.S. by the end of 2004 or the beginning of 2005.
Resources
Forward Drive, Jim Motavalli, Sierra Club Books, 2000. Great book, lots of history.
General information on hybrid cars:
http://www.ford.com/en/vehicles/specialtyVehicles/environmental/ hybridElectric/default.htm
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