Electric Hybrid Car Product Of Previous Competition

Since the early 1900 s, researchers have been working on developing a car that did not require gas and oil to operate. The internal combustion engine, the mainstay of the automotive industry even then, was seen a smoke-belching polluter prior to being anti-pollution becoming popular. Development of an electric hybrid car in the 1990 s may have been prompted by the United States carmakers ending their attempts of producing an electric car.

When the U.S. carmakers were trying to develop a vehicle that ran on electricity and promised to end the owner s dependence on oil and gas, Japanese manufacturers saw what was going on across the ocean and bolstered its investment and engineering into the development of an electric hybrid car that could be mass-produced. When Toyota unleashed the Prius in Japan in 1997, U.S. carmakers were confident the car would not catch on and when about their business to improve fuel economy of their existing lines.

The basis for their theory that consumers wouldn t buy and electric hybrid car was based on the low sales they experienced with General Motor s all-electric vehicle, the EV-1. They claimed they knew the American market and there wasn t going to be enough of a demand for electric hybrid cars to make them profitable.

Gas Price Often Determines Car Market

At the same time the Prius was being advertised, U.S. companies were introducing larger, more gas-demanding vehicles such as the Hummer. Environmentalists lambasted buyers of these vehicles as being unfriendly to the air and being hogs of the gas supply, while owners of the growing SUV s pointed to the electric hybrid car as being nothing more than a toy for which little was offered in return. When the price of gasoline goes up, more people are interested in reducing their fuel costs, an effort that seems to dissipate when the gas in plentiful and not as expensive.

The debate continues of the use of the electric hybrid car and larger SUVs, mostly being partly determined by person choice and available finances. While the prices of most electric hybrid cars are higher than similar gas-only vehicles, the price of many of the larger SUVs can be considerably higher.

However, the sales and demands for smaller and mid-size electric hybrid cars continues to grow slowly, usually when the price of gasoline takes an upward spike. The availability of gasoline has appeared steady despite the escalating cost, and it is the availability more than the price that is possibly keeping people from looking deeper into an electric hybrid car.