By Erika Stutzman, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Jun. 4--On a perfect day, when the sun was shining and there was no wind or heavy traffic, Jim Shapiro got 103.3 miles per gallon from Superior to Denver, where he met a friend for lunch.
With gas prices flirting with $2 a gallon, the savings over the summer will add up to more than just lunch money.
"It's pretty small, and noisy at high speeds, but for what I need it for, it's perfect," said Shapiro, a Boulder physicist and programmer who bought his Honda Insight a year ago.
The two hybrid-electric cars on the market -- the Insight and the Toyota Prius -- run on both gasoline and electricity. They use less fuel, and generate fewer pollutants.
Dealers say about 20,000 hybrid cars will be sold in the United States this year -- solidifying public interest, but representing a very slim number of the 15 million or more new cars sold each year.
The hybrids use a fuel-efficient gas engine spurred on by an electric motor -- so they don't need down time to charge as do all-electric cars. The cars' computers "tell" the engine and motor how to get the best possible fuel economy.
Shapiro's Insight gets so much attention, he's printed up a sheet with frequently asked questions to hand out to people who ask him about the car.
"People are curious in parking lots, even at intersections," he says. "So I printed this up. But I usually will sit and talk to people anyway."
What Shapiro tells people is the Insight -- which he bought with a list price of $19,320 without air conditioning -- is the right car for him, but not a perfect car.
The mileage is outstanding, averaging 75 miles per gallon. Shapiro fills the tank every six weeks, though he generally commutes to his job at the Denver Tech Center by bus.
It's fast enough -- 75 miles per hour is no problem, but as a very quiet car, it picks up a lot of road noise above 50 mph.
"It's fun to drive. It's low to the ground so it corners great," he said.
Shapiro's "fun" quotient is high, too. His first car was a '36 Ford three-window coupe which he had as a Massachusetts Institute of Technology undergraduate in 1957. He replaced the engine with a racing engine. More recently, he had a '66 Mustang, which he gave to his grown son.
But buying the Insight wasn't as fun as driving it, he said. Dealers don't keep a lot in stock -- and often don't have any at all -- so browsing and even test driving isn't always possible.
"And you give up things. You can't take this thing off road. It's a two-seater, and you can't tow anything."
In fact, the carrying capacity is just 360 pounds.
"My wife and I can't gain a lot of weight!" he said. When buying or toting heavy items, like bags of cat food or mulch, a second car is needed, he said.
But, then again, there is that mileage.
"Saving money on gas is nice, but I bought the car because it just seemed like the right thing to do," Shapiro said.
Steve Ertzberger, a sales manager at Fisher Honda, said the dealership sells two or three Insights a month.
He said Boulder's environmentally friendly attitude helps move the cars -- but most buyers are more interested in the fuel economy.
Which means the hybrids couldn't have come at a better time. Gas prices were high last summer, high this year, and show no signs of dropping precipitously anytime soon.
Scott Reed, a spokesman with Regional Transportation District, said ridership tends to peak when gas prices are at their highest -- though the last two years' high prices have coincided with low unemployment, which also stimulates increased usage of public transportation.
RTD has also launched a hybrid-electric program of its own. So far, the district has received 23 hybrid-electric buses for downtown Denver.
About 20 are already in use along the 16th Street Mall, Reed said.
"It meets the needs on the mall -- they are ultra-low emission vehicles and really quiet," Reed said.
The City of Denver is also using hybrid and all-electric vehicles. The city's "Take Charge" program, funded by federal grant, includes 39 Toyota Priuses and seven all-electric RAV4-EVs, also by Toyota.
The Priuses are used by the city's public works and fire departments, while the RAV4's are leased by organizations and companies.
Boulder's FreeWave Technology, a wireless applications company, is leasing one of the cars, which charges at the solar-powered home of its chief technology officer and chairman.
CTO Jonathan Sawyer said the RAV4 is used as a company car. The firm is in the process of building a solar-powered station to charge it, and possibly additional electric cars.
"I've personally been an electric car advocate for years," Sawyer said. "I'm tickled pink that we got to participate in the program."
The lease is an expensive $600 a month. Sawyer said the car has a 120 mile range, followed by four to five hours of charging time. More typically, FreeWave's electric car travels about 25 miles a day, followed by a one-hour needed charge time.
Sawyer scoffs at the hybrids, calling them "marketing gimmicks" that still burn gas and produce smog.
But the public may be more apt to accept the hybrids over the electrics, and manufacturers have been moving to embrace them.
General Motors already has an all-electric that flopped -- its EV1, which Sawyer also owned, was released in 1999. The car, with a maximum driving range of 95 miles and downtime for recharges clocking in at six hours, was discontinued.
The list price on the RAV4 is $42,000, which will price it out of many garages, and drivers may be held at bay by the driving range and needed downtime.
Price is hardly the only factor keeping hybrids and electrics a specialty market. Consumers continue to favor gas guzzlers over fuel-efficient compact cars. Sales of sport-utility vehicles were up 9 percent last year to 3.5 million, even as the whole car and truck market declined by 7 percent.
And as gas prices soared the summer of 2000, and again this year, Americans are snapping up cars with the poorest fuel economy since 1980, the government says.
The Transportation Department reports that for purchases of model year 2001 cars -- based on March figures -- cars are getting an average fuel economy of 28.7 miles a gallon, and light trucks are getting only 20.9.
But there may be light at the end of the SUV-packed tunnel. Detroit is following Japan's lead, with Ford, DaimlerChrysler and General Motors expecting to make hybrid versions of their highly popular SUVs in the next few years.
Ford's Escape, Explorer and Daimler's Dodge Durango are expected to be first off the line, with hybrid-electric versions being planned for 2003.
To see more of the Daily Camera, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.bouldernews.com/
(c) 2001, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
TOYOY, HMC, F, DCX, GM,
Hybrid Car Owners Testify To Vehicles' Benefits, Drawbacks.
By Erika Stutzman, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Jun. 4--On a perfect day, when the sun was shining and there was no wind or heavy traffic, Jim Shapiro got 103.3 miles per gallon from Superior to Denver, where he met a friend for lunch.
With gas prices flirting with $2 a gallon, the savings over the summer will add up to more than just lunch money.
"It's pretty small, and noisy at high speeds, but for what I need it for, it's perfect," said Shapiro, a Boulder physicist and programmer who bought his Honda Insight a year ago.
The two hybrid-electric cars on the market -- the Insight and the Toyota Prius -- run on both gasoline and electricity. They use less fuel, and generate fewer pollutants.
Dealers say about 20,000 hybrid cars will be sold in the United States this year -- solidifying public interest, but representing a very slim number of the 15 million or more new cars sold each year.
The hybrids use a fuel-efficient gas engine spurred on by an electric motor -- so they don't need down time to charge as do all-electric cars. The cars' computers "tell" the engine and motor how to get the best possible fuel economy.
Shapiro's Insight gets so much attention, he's printed up a sheet with frequently asked questions to hand out to people who ask him about the car.
"People are curious in parking lots, even at intersections," he says. "So I printed this up. But I usually will sit and talk to people anyway."
What Shapiro tells people is the Insight -- which he bought with a list price of $19,320 without air conditioning -- is the right car for him, but not a perfect car.
The mileage is outstanding, averaging 75 miles per gallon. Shapiro fills the tank every six weeks, though he generally commutes to his job at the Denver Tech Center by bus.
It's fast enough -- 75 miles per hour is no problem, but as a very quiet car, it picks up a lot of road noise above 50 mph.
"It's fun to drive. It's low to the ground so it corners great," he said.
Shapiro's "fun" quotient is high, too. His first car was a '36 Ford three-window coupe which he had as a Massachusetts Institute of Technology undergraduate in 1957. He replaced the engine with a racing engine. More recently, he had a '66 Mustang, which he gave to his grown son.
But buying the Insight wasn't as fun as driving it, he said. Dealers don't keep a lot in stock -- and often don't have any at all -- so browsing and even test driving isn't always possible.
"And you give up things. You can't take this thing off road. It's a two-seater, and you can't tow anything."
In fact, the carrying capacity is just 360 pounds.
"My wife and I can't gain a lot of weight!" he said. When buying or toting heavy items, like bags of cat food or mulch, a second car is needed, he said.
But, then again, there is that mileage.
"Saving money on gas is nice, but I bought the car because it just seemed like the right thing to do," Shapiro said.
Steve Ertzberger, a sales manager at Fisher Honda, said the dealership sells two or three Insights a month.
He said Boulder's environmentally friendly attitude helps move the cars -- but most buyers are more interested in the fuel economy.
Which means the hybrids couldn't have come at a better time. Gas prices were high last summer, high this year, and show no signs of dropping precipitously anytime soon.
Scott Reed, a spokesman with Regional Transportation District, said ridership tends to peak when gas prices are at their highest -- though the last two years' high prices have coincided with low unemployment, which also stimulates increased usage of public transportation.
RTD has also launched a hybrid-electric program of its own. So far, the district has received 23 hybrid-electric buses for downtown Denver.
About 20 are already in use along the 16th Street Mall, Reed said.
"It meets the needs on the mall -- they are ultra-low emission vehicles and really quiet," Reed said.
The City of Denver is also using hybrid and all-electric vehicles. The city's "Take Charge" program, funded by federal grant, includes 39 Toyota Priuses and seven all-electric RAV4-EVs, also by Toyota.
The Priuses are used by the city's public works and fire departments, while the RAV4's are leased by organizations and companies.
Boulder's FreeWave Technology, a wireless applications company, is leasing one of the cars, which charges at the solar-powered home of its chief technology officer and chairman.
CTO Jonathan Sawyer said the RAV4 is used as a company car. The firm is in the process of building a solar-powered station to charge it, and possibly additional electric cars.
"I've personally been an electric car advocate for years," Sawyer said. "I'm tickled pink that we got to participate in the program."
The lease is an expensive $600 a month. Sawyer said the car has a 120 mile range, followed by four to five hours of charging time. More typically, FreeWave's electric car travels about 25 miles a day, followed by a one-hour needed charge time.
Sawyer scoffs at the hybrids, calling them "marketing gimmicks" that still burn gas and produce smog.
But the public may be more apt to accept the hybrids over the electrics, and manufacturers have been moving to embrace them.
General Motors already has an all-electric that flopped -- its EV1, which Sawyer also owned, was released in 1999. The car, with a maximum driving range of 95 miles and downtime for recharges clocking in at six hours, was discontinued.
The list price on the RAV4 is $42,000, which will price it out of many garages, and drivers may be held at bay by the driving range and needed downtime.
Price is hardly the only factor keeping hybrids and electrics a specialty market. Consumers continue to favor gas guzzlers over fuel-efficient compact cars. Sales of sport-utility vehicles were up 9 percent last year to 3.5 million, even as the whole car and truck market declined by 7 percent.
And as gas prices soared the summer of 2000, and again this year, Americans are snapping up cars with the poorest fuel economy since 1980, the government says.
The Transportation Department reports that for purchases of model year 2001 cars -- based on March figures -- cars are getting an average fuel economy of 28.7 miles a gallon, and light trucks are getting only 20.9.
But there may be light at the end of the SUV-packed tunnel. Detroit is following Japan's lead, with Ford, DaimlerChrysler and General Motors expecting to make hybrid versions of their highly popular SUVs in the next few years.
Ford's Escape, Explorer and Daimler's Dodge Durango are expected to be first off the line, with hybrid-electric versions being planned for 2003.
To see more of the Daily Camera, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.bouldernews.com/
(c) 2001, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
TOYOY, HMC, F, DCX, GM,
Hybrid Car Owners Testify To Vehicles' Benefits, Drawbacks.
By Erika Stutzman, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Jun. 4--On a perfect day, when the sun was shining and there was no wind or heavy traffic, Jim Shapiro got 103.3 miles per gallon from Superior to Denver, where he met a friend for lunch.
With gas prices flirting with $2 a gallon, the savings over the summer will add up to more than just lunch money.
"It's pretty small, and noisy at high speeds, but for what I need it for, it's perfect," said Shapiro, a Boulder physicist and programmer who bought his Honda Insight a year ago.
The two hybrid-electric cars on the market -- the Insight and the Toyota Prius -- run on both gasoline and electricity. They use less fuel, and generate fewer pollutants.
Dealers say about 20,000 hybrid cars will be sold in the United States this year -- solidifying public interest, but representing a very slim number of the 15 million or more new cars sold each year.
The hybrids use a fuel-efficient gas engine spurred on by an electric motor -- so they don't need down time to charge as do all-electric cars. The cars' computers "tell" the engine and motor how to get the best possible fuel economy.
Shapiro's Insight gets so much attention, he's printed up a sheet with frequently asked questions to hand out to people who ask him about the car.
"People are curious in parking lots, even at intersections," he says. "So I printed this up. But I usually will sit and talk to people anyway."
What Shapiro tells people is the Insight -- which he bought with a list price of $19,320 without air conditioning -- is the right car for him, but not a perfect car.
The mileage is outstanding, averaging 75 miles per gallon. Shapiro fills the tank every six weeks, though he generally commutes to his job at the Denver Tech Center by bus.
It's fast enough -- 75 miles per hour is no problem, but as a very quiet car, it picks up a lot of road noise above 50 mph.
"It's fun to drive. It's low to the ground so it corners great," he said.
Shapiro's "fun" quotient is high, too. His first car was a '36 Ford three-window coupe which he had as a Massachusetts Institute of Technology undergraduate in 1957. He replaced the engine with a racing engine. More recently, he had a '66 Mustang, which he gave to his grown son.
But buying the Insight wasn't as fun as driving it, he said. Dealers don't keep a lot in stock -- and often don't have any at all -- so browsing and even test driving isn't always possible.
"And you give up things. You can't take this thing off road. It's a two-seater, and you can't tow anything."
In fact, the carrying capacity is just 360 pounds.
"My wife and I can't gain a lot of weight!" he said. When buying or toting heavy items, like bags of cat food or mulch, a second car is needed, he said.
But, then again, there is that mileage.
"Saving money on gas is nice, but I bought the car because it just seemed like the right thing to do," Shapiro said.
Steve Ertzberger, a sales manager at Fisher Honda, said the dealership sells two or three Insights a month.
He said Boulder's environmentally friendly attitude helps move the cars -- but most buyers are more interested in the fuel economy.
Which means the hybrids couldn't have come at a better time. Gas prices were high last summer, high this year, and show no signs of dropping precipitously anytime soon.
Scott Reed, a spokesman with Regional Transportation District, said ridership tends to peak when gas prices are at their highest -- though the last two years' high prices have coincided with low unemployment, which also stimulates increased usage of public transportation.
RTD has also launched a hybrid-electric program of its own. So far, the district has received 23 hybrid-electric buses for downtown Denver.
About 20 are already in use along the 16th Street Mall, Reed said.
"It meets the needs on the mall -- they are ultra-low emission vehicles and really quiet," Reed said.
The City of Denver is also using hybrid and all-electric vehicles. The city's "Take Charge" program, funded by federal grant, includes 39 Toyota Priuses and seven all-electric RAV4-EVs, also by Toyota.
The Priuses are used by the city's public works and fire departments, while the RAV4's are leased by organizations and companies.
Boulder's FreeWave Technology, a wireless applications company, is leasing one of the cars, which charges at the solar-powered home of its chief technology officer and chairman.
CTO Jonathan Sawyer said the RAV4 is used as a company car. The firm is in the process of building a solar-powered station to charge it, and possibly additional electric cars.
"I've personally been an electric car advocate for years," Sawyer said. "I'm tickled pink that we got to participate in the program."
The lease is an expensive $600 a month. Sawyer said the car has a 120 mile range, followed by four to five hours of charging time. More typically, FreeWave's electric car travels about 25 miles a day, followed by a one-hour needed charge time.
Sawyer scoffs at the hybrids, calling them "marketing gimmicks" that still burn gas and produce smog.
But the public may be more apt to accept the hybrids over the electrics, and manufacturers have been moving to embrace them.
General Motors already has an all-electric that flopped -- its EV1, which Sawyer also owned, was released in 1999. The car, with a maximum driving range of 95 miles and downtime for recharges clocking in at six hours, was discontinued.
The list price on the RAV4 is $42,000, which will price it out of many garages, and drivers may be held at bay by the driving range and needed downtime.
Price is hardly the only factor keeping hybrids and electrics a specialty market. Consumers continue to favor gas guzzlers over fuel-efficient compact cars. Sales of sport-utility vehicles were up 9 percent last year to 3.5 million, even as the whole car and truck market declined by 7 percent.
And as gas prices soared the summer of 2000, and again this year, Americans are snapping up cars with the poorest fuel economy since 1980, the government says.
The Transportation Department reports that for purchases of model year 2001 cars -- based on March figures -- cars are getting an average fuel economy of 28.7 miles a gallon, and light trucks are getting only 20.9.
But there may be light at the end of the SUV-packed tunnel. Detroit is following Japan's lead, with Ford, DaimlerChrysler and General Motors expecting to make hybrid versions of their highly popular SUVs in the next few years.
Ford's Escape, Explorer and Daimler's Dodge Durango are expected to be first off the line, with hybrid-electric versions being planned for 2003.
To see more of the Daily Camera, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.bouldernews.com/
(c) 2001, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
TOYOY, HMC, F, DCX, GM,
