The Complete Idiot's Guide to Hybrid and Alternative Fuel Vehicles

by Jack R. Nerad

Book Overview

New hope for motorists. With the rise in gasoline costs, the hybrid car has exploded into the fastest-growing segment of the American car industry. This book sorts out the dizzying array of choices... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1592576354
• ISBN13: 9781592576357
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: Alpha Books
• Length: 207 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.3" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful source of information

Jack Nerad won't tell you "buy this car" or "this is the answer to all your problems." What he does is far better than that. He provides a wealth of information on the true state of our oil reserves, how car emissions affect the environment, the spectre of global warming, and so on. And he does it by providing, in as unbiased a manner as possible (where unbiased means providing relevant information no matter which "side" it seems to come down on---it doesn't mean the current trend of trying to pretend that every theory out there is equally valid so as to avoid angering anyone), as much information as possible. There's so much packed into this little book that I constantly found myself repeating tidbits to my husband; I'm not a car person, but I found this stuff fascinating. For instance, it's illuminating to learn a few things about automobile history. I daresay most folks buying cars and arguing over the viability of various types of engines today have no idea that the first cars didn't have gasoline engines, and that this is hardly the first time in history that automobile manufacturers have worked feverishly on things such as electric or hybrid cars. Or that the Prius was operating on the roads in Japan for several years before it debuted in the US. I was also surprised to learn about "clean diesel" technology in use in other countries, that our regulators are having trouble figuring out what to do with. This may not seem relevant right now since it isn't available here now, but if it becomes available I'd like to be able to approach it knowledgeably, rather than with the knee-jerk media-fed "ewwww, diesel" reaction. Nerad goes into the advantages and disadvantages of hybrids, electrics, clean diesel, biodiesel, flex fuel, hydrogen fuel cell, and other current and proposed technologies---not those advantages and disadvantages that the media likes to tout, but the ones that simply affect your decisions as a buyer, as someone who hopefully cares about the environment, and as someone who has to weigh the benefit to the environment against what you're willing and able to pay. He delves into safety issues with each type of engine, repair costs, operation costs, maintenance costs, purchase price differences, projected savings (or not) over the life of the car (a general analysis that you can plug your own numbers into based on current fuel and car prices), convenience, and so on. You'll be able to figure out what type of car might work best if you have a large family to haul around, vs. what will work best if you have a two-hour commute every morning at highway speeds. All of this information is provided in as simple-yet-complete a manner possible. I truly feel that when we're ready to buy our next car, this will arm us with what we need to make a choice that will benefit our wallets as well as the environment. Nerad could have stuck to a simple run-down of conventional hybrid vehicles, but I think he would have done the reader a disservice by do