Implementation Of Hybrid Vehicles Technology example essay topic

bstr act Hybrid Vehicles (HV) provide a glimpse of the future of environmental vehicle design but what is needed to succeed in the marketplace? In this paper, I will analyze the market penetration of HVs in the long and short run. This paper also studies the factors influencing the sales of HVs such as gasoline prices, government subsidies and environmental concerns. The American way of life has developed around the automobile. Personal and public transportation allows people to live in suburban communities and commute to work where the majority of jobs are; the urban centers. However this freedom comes with a high price.

Urban air quality problems persist and increase. With increase in motorized travel and congestion comes an increase in energy use, emissions and air pollution. Greene and Santini (1993) stated that "dependency on foreign energy sources decreases the American energy security and adversely affect the balance of trade". Emissions deteriorate environment. And poor environmental conditions together with air pollution cause various health related problems, especially in the respiratory system. All these social and environmental needs have challenged the automobile manufactures to provide sustainable solutions.

Hybrid vehicles (HV) offer an opportunity to combine the advantages of electric vehicles such as zero-tailpipe emission mobility in sensitive places like metropolitan areas, with the potential of nearly unlimited long-distance capability using the heat engine as an energy converter. And because HV consume less gasoline than standard internal combustion engines (ICE) vehicles, it makes the need for foreign oil less. The implementation of Hybrid vehicles technology contributes new potential risk from the development of other competing technologies as electric vehicles, natural gas vehicles, improved ICE vehicles and fuel cell vehicles. Factors like abundance of natural gas, clean emissions and efficiency of fuel cell vehicles and the total elimination of tail pipe emissions will greatly impact the sales market for the Hybrid vehicles. In addition, other types of public transportation such as bus, trains and subway also influence the development of vehicles technology.

My selected product is perfectly elastic. With the development of other competitors of Environmentally friendly vehicles, consumers will have the option to base their decisions on cost, technology, benefits, return on investment and ultimately simply preference. This rationale applies in the short and long run thus therefore making Hybrid vehicles perfectly elastic in the short and long run. The four factors driving the consumer demand are income, references, substitutes and future expectations of the consumer. Government mandates like the $3000 tax credit for vehicles purchased from Jan 1, 2003 through Dec 31, 2006 and a $2000 tax deduction from the IRS is likely to encourage consumers from all income levels to consider the purchase of Hybrid vehicle. Starting at only $19,570 (Edmunds), the general public considers the HV as a superior technology that not only meets the emission standards but also easy to maintain, providing satisfactory performance at an affordable price.

Above table results provided by Sperling, D. show the market penetration trend for the Hybrid Vehicle in the US. Since it's introduction it has managed to gain more consumer confidence and has projected sales to prompt further marketing and research of this technology. Hybrid vehicles have unlimited market potential if they are competitive in cost, reliability and durability. Hybrids must use mainstream development and production processes to get sufficient quality. Moreover, if hybrids vehicles in production yield substantial fuel economy and emissions improvements ( 50%), they should be credited accordingly. Total energy consumption and air quality will benefit greater from selling millions of hybrids with efficient clean engines.

Bibliography

Greene, D. and Santini, D 1993, Transportation and Global climate change, American council for energy efficient economy, Washington D.
C. web Sperling, D., 1995, Future Drive Electric Vehicles and Sustainable Transportation, Island Press, PP, 100-147.