Slow takeoff seen for hybrid electric vehicles
ROME, Sept 11 David Brough writing for Reuters reported that Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) are gaining popularity but their fuel economy and environmental benefits are not yet enough to win over price-conscious buyers in the key U.S. market, industry officials said on Wednesday.
HEV models from Honda Motor Co and Toyota Motor Corp, which use both a conventional engine and an electric motor, are becoming more common in the United States and could take off soon in Europe, according to U.S. executives at a four-day European lead battery conference in Rome.
The vehicles use an internal combustion engine to recharge batteries and to provide extra power when accelerating.
In the United States, HEVs cost around $4,000 more than equivalent standard models.
"There is limited flexibility from consumers in terms of pricing," Ted Miller, a Dearborn, Michigan-based executive with Ford Motor Co (F.N) told Reuters.
"If you can deliver a hybrid vehicle to a customer for very nearly the same price as a typical (non-hybrid) vehicle, the demand can be fairly significant," added Miller, also a senior official of the U.S. advanced battery consortium (USABC).
Toyota has projected eventual sales of hundreds of thousands of HEVs per year for models like its Prius, Miller said.
Harshad Tataria, a Michigan-based executive with General Motors, said the challenge was to bring HEV costs down to the level of standard vehicles and deliver performance.
"Once we come up with a cost which is the same as the cost of the regular vehicle, we believe the HEV will take off," Tataria, who also represents the USABC research group, said.
"However, it isn't going to be easy because we have to put in extra battery power," he told Reuters.
"The hybrid vehicle does include fuel economy and reduces pollution, depending on the degree of hybridisation."
Ford plans to introduce an HEV on a limited scale in the United States soon, while GM intends to launch low-hybrid HEV trucks there by around 2004, the executives said.
As fuel in the United States is much cheaper than in Europe, U.S. consumers feel little pressure to switch to HEVs, although the situation might change if fuel costs soared, delegates said.
"Many American consumers don't feel obliged to economise on fuel as it is so cheap," Miller said.
Most auto makers will be obliged to upgrade the electrical systems of their cars to meet increasing needs for power for electronic gadgets, delegates said.
FUEL CELLS
Cars running on fuel cells -- pure electric vehicles -- are not projected to play any role in the automotive mass market before at least 2010, said Menahem Anderman, president of California-based Advanced Automotive Batteries.
Delegates said it would take many years to set up the infrastructure required to charge fuel cell cars.
Fuel cell cars have an onboard charger. Fuel cells convert fuel, usually hydrogen or methane, directly to electrical energy. Emissions are hot, distilled water.
Fuel cell technology would still need a battery to charge electronic devices.
GROWING BATTERY MARKET
The need for more safety and convenience devices in cars is fuelling demand for higher-powered batteries, such as the newly developed 42-volt battery, delegates said. The standard battery for cars today is the 12-volt lead acid battery.
"The global battery market for advanced (hybrid and 42 volt battery) vehicles, estimated at $70 million in 2001, is projected to exceed $250 million by 2005, and $500 million by 2008," Anderman wrote in a report entitled "A Critical New Assessment of Automotive Battery Trends".
In terms of units, the market in 2008 is expected to be evenly divided between nickel metal hydride (NiMH) and valve regulated lead acid (VRLA) at about 400,000 batteries each, the report said.
The "8ELBC" conference ends on Friday.
