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Hybrid Cars Start to Catch On Here

January 14, 2009 - Every once in a while, the Kennebec Commuter gets the itch to go car window-shopping. We say car window-shopping as opposed to regular car shopping because we never actually leave the dealership with a new car (we could never betray the Jeep like that. She's been a trooper).
Still, what's the harm pretending that you're in the market for a Mercedes and taking the new CL convertible for a test spin?

Lately though, the Kennebec Commuter's taste has migrated from cars that cost more than what we make in a year to cars made to give Mother Earth a hug. You guessed it: hybrids.

Hybrids are different from gasoline- and electric-powered vehicles in the sense they combine different forms of energy to run. The combination is usually electricity and gasoline, which cuts down on emissions because less gasoline is used to power the vehicle.

Hybrid has become a buzz word in recent years, but electric and hybrid cars are hardly new. The first car that didn't use gas was made in 1839 by Robert Anderson from Scotland. The idea didn't take.

Sixty years later, Dr. Ferdinand Porsche (yes, that Porsche) built his first hybrid car, which traveled 40 miles using just a battery.

Finally, at the turn of the 20th century, the U.S.-based Electric Vehicle Co. built 2,000 trucks, taxis, buses and other vehicles that ran solely on electricity. All was well until Henry Ford developed the assembly line, making vehicles affordable to just about everyone. The Electric Vehicle Company was run into the ground as a result.

Since about 1997, when the Toyota Prius hit the Asian market, hybrid cars have become more prevalent than ever. Several other manufacturers, including Honda and Ford, jumped on the bandwagon. Now hybrids are affordable and available everywhere.

So while we wait for Jeep to get its Renegade Hybrid concept up and running, we talked to a hybrid owner to see if these cars are all they're cracked up to be.

Turns out several central Mainers are on the hybrid kick, including Judy Berk, who has owned two hybrid vehicles, both of them Toyota Priuses.

"I have a hard time imagining going back to a non-hybrid car after this," Berk, communications director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine, said. "It's certainly the most luxurious car I've ever driven."

Berk bought her first Prius six years ago. Much of the reason behind the investment was "absolutely" environmental, but also financial.

"It helps reduce air pollution, smog, you name it," said Berk, who gets an average of 500 miles per tank of gas.

Berk also dispelled two myths people tend to have about hybrids: That they cost a lot up front, and they have to be plugged in like many electrically run vehicles.

"People will come up to me a lot and ask where I plug the car in," Berk said, with a laugh. "You don't have to plug it in; that's not how it works."

Thanks to developments in the auto industry over the last decade, hybrids are not only for the rich and famous.

"I think my Prius cost about as much as a Camry and many other four-door sedan-style cars," Berk said. (A 2009 Prius starts at $22,000; the Camry at $19,000.)

"My hybrid is a really great car," she said. "I can't imagine owning anything else."

Monday January 12th, 2009

by Meghan Malloy
Kennebec Journal news story


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