Hybrid and Alternatively fueled cars

Hybrid cars

hybrid cars are the newest the newest thing to hit the automotive world ever. Or are they if you ask almost anyone on the street, If someone wanted to look hip and with the new wave what should they drive?,,. would definitely say a hybrid or more specifically a Prius. is this really all that new of a idea? No. in fact back in the 1970s the state of California decided that the pollutants from normal diesel engines in the buses were too much; so with the help of auto manufacture GM they produced the worlds first hybrid electrical setup ever.

The Hybrid engine...

in most basic form to simplify everything... The engine operates very similar to a standard car except sometimes the gas engine is not what propels the car in its place is a electric motor which in turn drives the car and when the battery drains the gas engine takes over until the charging system can recharge and the electricity can take over again.

Stickiness, Trend Analysis, and Gladwell

Why would such a fantastic idea take so long to come around? the reason is... stickiness and how time and the environment took affect. back then very few cared about the environment and even less cared about gas prices and oil consumption. The times were good- a few bucks in the old Buick, Ford, whatever you drove and you were set for a week; why worry? but suddenly everyone came to realize that fossil fuels are exhaustible. it was like we were hit out of no where when this should have been taken into more consideration eariler. Regardless gas prices skyrocketed and everyone wanted more MPG... This is when the Hybrid took major swing people were snatching them up faster than they could be made. As the price of gas went up the more the demand went up, Until the "ever increasing" economy took a turn for the worst and gas prices went down. Now the demand has slowly trickled down to almost nothing.

Mavens and Salesmen in Trend analysis? Oh yes

As all who have read Maxwell Gladwell's The Tipping Point know that a maven who is one who accumulates knowledge and uses it to help people for no self gain. in this case i would have to say that GM was more of a maven because they used this technology at first for very little profit, spending lots of funding to come up with this. While having no mass sales for reimbursement. because of the lack of interest they let patients lapse and some good salesmen were able to take over. The salesmen? are major Japanese companies like Toyota and Honda. Both companies especially Toyota developed many prototype everyday commuters and marketed the daylights out of them. Thus creating explosive sales, mass profits and of coarse a trend.

A Trend on the Edge.

As the hybrid has been coming a long way so have alternative fuels and energy's which are very unique in themselves. Many systems use a common internal combustion engine but have unique tuning features and materials used; While some use completely different styles such as solar panels. This has in no way yet accomplished being the great trend Hybrids have, but they have come a long way. many see this as the only way to continue civilization the way it is. if crude oil is really as close to exhaustion as claimed we need to come up with not ways to conserve fossil fuels, but ways to replace them. as in the past necessity is the mother of invention. and if we need a new fuel we will create thus making it popular.