I see a lot of hybrid vehicles in Geezerville. Most are called Prius, but there are other brands and models out there too. Most of the owners of these cars love the mileage. The person who drives the shuttle to the airport, loves getting 38 MPG with her new hybrid. About a year ago, we bought a hybrid pickup truck. It's a Ford Limited 4 x 4 half ton pickup truck. It's much smaller than the one ton pickup trucks we've owned in the past, but it still has some size and heft. It looks like a regular pick-em-up truck...except for one small difference: it has an electric battery and a gasoline engine. It's a hybrid. According to my auntie--it's a hy-bird and there is no way we can tell her otherwise. Since she's over 100 years old, and we do not see any reason to tell her either.
From the outside of the truck, there's only one tiny way to tell that this is hybrid truck. It has chrome logo (you know a shiny silvery piece of plastic that looks like chrome) that says Power Boost on both sides of the truck. If you don't know what Power Boost means, then you don't know it's a hybrid. When I went to the county fair, I was told that I could not park in the special hybrid/electric spots. I told the attendant it was a hybrid and she was surprised and let me park there after all. Folks don't know. The same thing happens at stores where special parking places are reserved for electric and hybrid vehicles. Each time I am at risk of getting a rather costly ticket. I keep on reminding myself to remember to put a little sign on the back window that says this is a hybrid truck. So far, I've not made the sign. Maybe I should do that instead of write in my blog???
Inside the truck there are a couple of indicators that it's a hybrid. If you are driving and the tachometer reads zero instead of a 1 or 2, you know the truck is a hybrid. Zero means the engine is using electric power. When you turn the engine off, you see a read-out that says how many miles were driven with electric power and how many were driven with gasoline power. I can't tell the difference between the two types of power.
The big difference is the gas gauge. When you fill up the truck, the gas gauge will show you how far you can drive on that tank of fuel. I find it rather amusing to see that at times I have a 700 mile driving radius. That's a long way.
When you start the truck, it will tell you how far you can drive before you will need fuel. Yesterday I drove to a favorite dinner spot. Round trip, it's about 110 miles away. I started with the gauge reading 477 miles of fuel. At home, after dinner and after driving 110 miles, I ended with the gauge reading 477 miles of fuel. How does that work? I clearly drove 110 miles--yet I did not use any fuel. You gotta love that.
I been trying to figure out this conundrum for over a year. Sometimes I end up with MORE fuel than when I started. Then I start thinking of all the ups and downs in the road. If I'm going downhill, I'm using electric power. If I'm going uphill I'm using gasoline power. I'm also recharging the batteries when I drive. Don't get me wrong, the fuel gets used, but in the most unusual way.
I don't know if hybrid vehicles are all that they are hyped up to be. The truck gets good mileage, far better than a standard gasoline powered pickup. However, a lot of strange and unusual toxic minerals and elements go into making the battery--many of which are not eco- or human-friendly. Electric vehicles are worse. Gasoline is an "enemy" I know and understand, whereas the electric portion of my Power Boost "hybird" vehicle is something I don't understand. It might or might not be good for environment. It might or might not have fewer emissions. It does have a weird fuel gauge that calculates mileage in a most unusual fashion. You need to make up your mind if these vehicles are something you want to own. Remember, we're in this together.
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