(01-04-2020, 10:55 AM)EricC85 Wrote: As someone who works in automotive I can say without a doubt the hybrids require less maintenance than gas engine or eco diesels. But the full electric cars they’re throw away cars. Buy it for 5 years and then trade out of it.

To me the hybrid is The future we don’t have the battery technology to make full electric vehicles the main form of transportation. Hybrids have the ability to go 30-45 mpg in full size sedans. I see CUV hybrids flirting with 35mpg and compact hybrids getting north of 50mpg. Ford, GM, Chrysler are all racing to build the most efficient hybrid truck without compromising the tow capacity so that’s around the bend too.

For hybrids to improve you have to keep improving AGM battery technology and retrain industry repair man on the programming AGM bAtteries. Did you know if you don’t tell your computer system on most cars built after 2015 that you’ve replaced the battery (AGM batteries exclusively) the pcm will overcharge your battery through the voltage regulator in your alternator and cook the battery in less Than a year, you just wasted $200.

Other aspects that make hybrids better today include regenerative  braking technology, cylinder load distribution technology, auto start stop technology(not a fan of this one), and gas direct import technology.

The rest of the world is going to pretty much force BEV transition. Hybrids are nice as a bridge tech for those that aren't brave enough for the frontier of tech, but Europe and China are making BEV development essential. I expect people to keep buying gas guzzling trucks here in the USA for quite a few more years for no good reason, but it'll likely just result in the continued decline of the US automotive manufacturers not named Tesla.

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