The title of this post is borrowed from Voices of Reason who presciently argue on May 4 that hybrid cars aren't the solution to the energy consumption problem. In another entry from the unintended consequences desk, consumers who buy hybrids may drive more miles using more energy. Also, hybrid cars are getting bigger with more muscle as their gas mileage improves.
On July 16 the NYTimes, Hybrid Cars Burning Gas in the Drive for Power, illustrates the problem:
Hybrid technology, it seems, is being used in much the same way as earlier under-the-hood innovations that increased gasoline efficiency: to satisfy the American appetite for acceleration and bulk.
[...]
If every car in the country were converted to a hybrid with that improved mileage, the gain would be swallowed up in three to four years by growth in driving demand.
These anecdotes are consistent with predictions from economic theory:
- High oil prices will lead to more Prius's and fewer H2s.
- Fuel efficient cars makes driving less costly, leading to more driving and eroding the potential benefits of hybrid cars.
This second prediction is one reason why economists are generally not in favor of CAFE standards or mandates that X% of all cars manufactured must be hybrids.
See also the 7/19 entry on Achenblog, Car Insurance Won't Cover Nuclear Damage:
Also in my in-basket is a sheet of paper from my friend Kurt, who commutes to work on the dreadful I-66, using the HOV lanes, and who is outraged that the Ford Escape hybrid is allowed to use the HOV lanes even if there's only one person in the car. Virginia is rewarding people who drive hybrids, but Kurt points to a Department of Energy web site that shows dozens of conventional cars with better gas mileage and less [fewer?] greenhouse emissions than the Escape. "Allowing this SUV in HOV makes a joke of the entire process. Maybe since my car, a 4-cylinder Toyota Camry, has a battery it should qualify!" Kurt writes.
Thanks to ENV-ECON reader Eric McErlain for the heads up!
