The Complete Idiot's Guide to Hybrid and Alternative Fuel Vehicles
By
Jack R. Nerad
- Publisher: Alpha
- Number Of Pages: 224
- Publication Date: 2007-08-07
- ISBN-10 / ASIN: 1592576354
- ISBN-13 / EAN: 9781592576357
Product Description:
New hope for motorists.
With the rise in gasoline costs, the hybrid car has exploded into the fastest-growing segment of the American car industry. This book sorts out the dizzying array of choices faced by American motorists. In clear, jargon-free language, Nerad explains the nature of each kind of car and their advantages and disadvantages, so consumers can make a practical choice.
—The only book that includes all alternative fuel vehicles, including the hybrid
Summary: Just the facts, sir
Rating: 2
Now I know this book is an Idiot's Guide to hybrid vehicles, but I didn't need anybody to hold my hand through the entire book. I wrote an article recently about hybrid cars; went to gas stations to see who had E85 oil and who didn't; and talked to a car salesman who informed me about the issues with performance SUVs/cars versus hybrids, so I thought I had a pretty good understanding of the cars, but I wanted more information. I was interested in buying one. However, this book made me less enthusiastic to trade in my current car. I felt more comfortable talking to a car salesman than I did reading this book, and I always though car salesmen were pretty bias. This book takes the cake though. There is no room whatsoever to think for yourself. When I read a nonfiction book, I want facts, but there were so many opinions. People who were skeptical of hybrids were called naive. Then there were the descriptions of things that were "really nice." Random facts about cow's farting make gas to heat an oven stopped me cold. Even when facts were brought up like how long it takes for a hybrid to accelerate, the writer shrugged it off and said "most" drivers won't notice. And then there was the strange rationale about how hybrid car owners shouldn't be worried about driving with chemicals that could blow up a car because gas can do the same thing. That doesn't make me want to run out and get another version of something that could possibly blow up, especially when I saw no evidence in the book that firefighters and police were trained on hybrids.
I read a lot of lecturing about the environment, which for a hybrid car is expected, but I wanted to know more details about the car than global warming, and the entire first chapter was about that. I'm all about going green, but I need to be reading actual numbers.
After I got halfway through the book, then I really started getting into the nitty gritty: what gas stations have E85 and why they don't; how much hybrids cost and why they're so expensive; how mechanics would fix hybrids that pretty much have two engines inside and how the batteries may malfunction. That was the kind of stuff I wanted to read. But every time I finally got to a part where the writer would talk about a con for the hybrid, he'd immediately defend why it's better than a gasoline automobile. There weren't all these biases about steam engines though.
After awhile, I felt like I was reading a book from a HYBRID ONLY car dealership. I'm going to keep researching hybrids, but I want to read a less biased story and just get straight facts. It's difficult to take a nonfiction book seriously when there are so many generalizations. "Most" this and "lots" that, but I didn't read about one survey from actual drivers who could confirm these assumptions. At about 65% through the book, I gave up. I'm all about people being proud of something that helps the environment, but I wanted a book that would help me make an intelligent buying decision.
Summary: Wonderful source of information
Rating: 5
Jack Nerad won't tell you "buy this car" or "this is the answer to all your problems." What he does is far better than that. He provides a wealth of information on the true state of our oil reserves, how car emissions affect the environment, the spectre of global warming, and so on. And he does it by providing, in as unbiased a manner as possible (where unbiased means providing relevant information no matter which "side" it seems to come down on---it doesn't mean the current trend of trying to pretend that every theory out there is equally valid so as to avoid angering anyone), as much information as possible. There's so much packed into this little book that I constantly found myself repeating tidbits to my husband; I'm not a car person, but I found this stuff fascinating.
For instance, it's illuminating to learn a few things about automobile history. I daresay most folks buying cars and arguing over the viability of various types of engines today have no idea that the first cars didn't have gasoline engines, and that this is hardly the first time in history that automobile manufacturers have worked feverishly on things such as electric or hybrid cars. Or that the Prius was operating on the roads in Japan for several years before it debuted in the US. I was also surprised to learn about "clean diesel" technology in use in other countries, that our regulators are having trouble figuring out what to do with. This may not seem relevant right now since it isn't available here now, but if it becomes available I'd like to be able to approach it knowledgeably, rather than with the knee-jerk media-fed "ewwww, diesel" reaction.
Nerad goes into the advantages and disadvantages of hybrids, electrics, clean diesel, biodiesel, flex fuel, hydrogen fuel cell, and other current and proposed technologies---not those advantages and disadvantages that the media likes to tout, but the ones that simply affect your decisions as a buyer, as someone who hopefully cares about the environment, and as someone who has to weigh the benefit to the environment against what you're willing and able to pay. He delves into safety issues with each type of engine, repair costs, operation costs, maintenance costs, purchase price differences, projected savings (or not) over the life of the car (a general analysis that you can plug your own numbers into based on current fuel and car prices), convenience, and so on. You'll be able to figure out what type of car might work best if you have a large family to haul around, vs. what will work best if you have a two-hour commute every morning at highway speeds.
All of this information is provided in as simple-yet-complete a manner possible. I truly feel that when we're ready to buy our next car, this will arm us with what we need to make a choice that will benefit our wallets as well as the environment. Nerad could have stuck to a simple run-down of conventional hybrid vehicles, but I think he would have done the reader a disservice by doing so; by including so much information he made this book more useful in the long term. Hopefully it will help to show people that we don't have to stick to tried-and-true technologies in our search for a better solution.
Summary: Timely book but not well thought out
Rating: 2
This book appears to have been written in early 2007. He is aware of the coming change to EPA Fuel economy standards but doesn't know the details. It's good that he mentions the coming change at all, since anyone comparing 2008 cars to those he's writing about must be aware of this fact!
The book consists of 12 chapters:
1. Challenges to our mobility
2. Brief history of alternative fuels
3. Green for sale today
4. Gasoline-Hybrid vehicles
5. Flex Fuel/E85 vehicles
6. Natural gas vehicles
7. Clean diesel and bio-diesel
8. New tech gasoline vehicles
9. Electric cars
10. What about my car
11. Which vehicle is right for you
12. Coming attractions
I am primarily interested in hybrids, so I read chapters 1-4 closely (56 of the 189 pages in the book).
In Chapter 1 he proceeds to debunk global warming, and explain that we will never run out of gas (at least not until the next century). I think he's trying to be even-handed and explain all the pluses and minuses to each theory, but his reasoning is pretty un-supported (we'll find more oil reserves in the future, because we always have in the past).
In Chapter 2 he debunks steam cars and turbine gas cars. Again, he doesn't know very much about steam cars, but his general info is just OK.
In Chapter 3 he explains how nuclear power plants might make electricity so cheap they can put charging stations everywhere and not meter their usage. I live next door to one nuclear power plant already, let's pray he's wrong about there being more of these monstrosities (IMHO).
Chapter 4 begins by poking holes in the "bybrid hype". Huh? I haven't heard much of anything about hybrids, much less the hype. He says "sure you can save gas, but what about the added maintenance for all those electric bits" (I paraphrase). Too bad he didn't do a little more research here too. My Prius has no maintenance on the electric bits, no more than my washing machine's motor at home. And he forgot that a car like the Prius has no clutch, no torque converter, no starter motor, etc.
My reading stopped there because I am not interested in diesel cars. You know why? Because here are *no* high-mileage diesels for sale in the USA as of October 2008. The same is true for natural gas cars and electric cars (at least not in North Carolina).
So I have three problems with this book:
#1 - Either he doesn't like hybrid cars, or he has overcompensated in attempting to be even-handed.
#2 - His knowledge is pretty superficial.
#3 - He spends way too much time on things that consumers can't purchase now, or perhaps ever (hydrogen cars, high MPG diesels, etc.)
If you're going to buy a car, go read The Essential Hybrid Car Handbook: A Buyer's Guide. On the other hand, if you're writing a high-school paper on alternative fuels, this book is for you.