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Reality of a hybrid car
Reality of a hybrid car
Reality of a hybrid car
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Many people have the idea that HEVs and electric vehicles are recent phenomenon. But the history of HEVs goes way back. According to Rahman (2008), the production of HEVs dates back to the early 1900s, when Ferdinand Porsche from Lohner Coach Factory developed the Mixte, which was a 4WD series-hybrid version of "System Lohner-Porsche". In order to extend operating range, the vehicle included two generators driven by 2.5-hp Daimler IC engines enabling it to cover almost 65 km on battery alone. It had a top speed of 50 km/h and a power of 5.22 kW during 20 minutes.
Since then there has been various attempts by many other innovators to come up with a mass product of hybrid vehicle although there was no study that shows the demand for the products. A more recent working prototype of the Hybrid electric vehicle was built by Victor Wouk, who worked on HEVs for decades in the 60’s and 70’s. His innovative work earned him the title as the "Godfather of the Hybrid"(Woku & Goodstein, 2004). His major work that was considered innovative was the installation of a prototype hybrid drive train of a 16 kilowatts (21 hp) electric motor into a 1972Buick Skylark and was part of the United States Environmental Protection Agency Federal Clean Car Incentive Program that continued till 1976.
The involvement of the United States government in the quest for the development and use of fuel efficient vehicles is an important part of HEVs history and development in USA. Several programs and initiatives were launched at different times. An important program that played a role in the history of HEVs in the United States was initiated in early 1990s. On a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report to congress, Sissine (1996) presented that on 29 September...
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...U.S. market and U.S. companies have been globalized as well. The big Japanese car manufacturers, Honda and Toyota, entered the U.S. market in early 1980’s. Ever since, they have witnessed the growth of their market share while the ‘big three’ faced declining shares. Bradley et al. (2005) argued that the variation between rivals in terms of cultures and related philosophies has intensified rivalry in the industry. This rivalry is more intensified by high fixed costs associated with manufacturing and the low switching costs for consumers to buy different brand or model (Bradley et al., 2005, p.3). Rivalry and competition within the industry in the U.S. is becoming concentrated. The industry in the U.S. is no longer dominated by the Big 3. In the field of HEVs, the upper hand is hold by Toyota to a large extent followed by other international and local manufacturers.
After the steam engine was created in the early 17th century, many people and companies tried to take that same technology and apply it to automobiles. Nobody was successful until a British inventor by the name of Richard Trevithick created a multi passenger automobile that ran on a power source that was driven by a steam-propelled piston at high pressure (Bellis). Up until the mid 1900’s cars were only produced by specifically skilled blacksmiths, and were very expensive. There were only about 4,000 cars produced from the 1890’s to mid 1900’s (Bellis).
The Automotive, or electric car industry particularly, comprises all those companies and activities involved in the manufacture of electric motor vehicles (EV), including most components, such as engines, bodies and rechargeable batteries or another energy storage device. The industry’s principal products are passenger automobiles. Despite the fact that the first electric cars were produced in 1880s , the advances in internal combustion engines, especially the electric starter, soon diminished the relative advantages of the electric car and became the dominant design in the market. Due to this the EV was almost a forgotten industry staying in the early stage of development, conforming to less than 1% of the automotive stock
In the United States, modern car manufacturing has been historically dominated by the American companies including Ford Motor Co., Chrysler Group LLC, and General Motors Co. These three companies, known as the Detroit Three, controlled 95% of the market in the 1950’s and the dominance continued until the beginning of the 21st century. In the 1980’s Japanese auto manufacturers entered the United States, a decade later the Germans, and finally in 2000’s the Koreans. By the end of 2009, the Detroit Three only accounted for 45% of the total U.S. auto market. Another factor that had influence on this was constant fluctuations in gasoline prices and price sensitive consumers. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, gas prices hit record high averaging $3.07 per gallon in May 2007 and kept climbing up to $4.08 in July 2008. As gas prices kept increasing, consumer buying trends have been changing. In 2006 sales for SUVs, pickup trucks, and vans dropped 16%, while the market for compact cars rose by 3%. Unfortunately, the Detroit Three were not prepared for this since their...
Since the release of this first mass-produced of the hybrid vehicles the government has been doing a lot of things possible to be involved and also to regulate the purchasing’s of HEVs and PHEVs. Today, the President Obama has created a New Energy For America to plan for changes to its way the United States uses energy. The plan does include a section on the hybrid vehicles and plug-in hybrids. Soon the tax credits will be ended for its regular hybrid electrics vehicles. Now it is known, due to the rapid rate of the HEV sales the government has also withdrawn its tax rebates on HEV models, by giving exclusive tax cuts on EV and PHEV models, which based on its total electric charge that the battery pack can hold. Since then, HEV cars were popular among environmentally conscious drivers.
This paper will explore points in a Washington Post article titled, "Ford Strives to Meet Hybrid Demand" and explain why changes occurred in its supply, demand, and price of hybrid vehicles. The supplier in this article, Ford Motor Company, has experienced a recent spike in the demand for hybrid vehicles, which will likely continue to increase. The spike has made it difficult for suppliers to meet the demand of its hybrid vehicles.
Electric cars have dated as far back as 1880, with the first model being mass produced in the later 1880’s. At early stages of automobiles, there were no clear benefits from either type of engine. In fact, a majority of cars in use at the time were electric. Steam and combustion engines were less developed and not as popular. Before the 1900’s an electric car held the land speed record for motor vehicles. (Bellis, 2014) As roads were built and the range that vehicles would need to travel increased, the need for a longer lasting vehicle rose. This is why at the turn of the century the popularity of gasoline powered engines arose. Electric vehicles were still valued for their short term transportation (within cities) and relatively easy use, but they began to lose prevalence as developments into combustion rose. Production for electric cars peaked in 1912 (Bellis, 2014) and saw a drastic decline since
Currently, the major competitors within the industry are Ford, DaimlerChrylser, General Motors (GM), Honda, Toyota, and Volkswagen. A few United States (US) manufacturers produce 23% of the world’s vehicles while Japan is responsible for 21%. The tendency for the industry is to be a global producer of automobiles; parts can be made throughout the world and assembled in many different places. The trend of consolidation has continued throughout today. Presently, this is evident in the recent acquisition of Chrysler by Daimler-Benz in late 1998, thus forming DaimlerChrylser. These consolidations have proved beneficial to consumers since companies have been able to reduce costs and pass those savings on to the customers. Some of the other major examples of consolidation are Nissan selling off a controlling 37% interest to Renault; General Motor’s 49% ownership of Isuzu; and Ford’s 33% majority of Mazda. Other efforts to become more competitive have translated into the European Union dropping trade barriers and European carmakers employing cost reducing efforts. American manufacturers have seen 2-3% growth over the last few years. Some current trends are the explosion in popularity of the Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) and big luxury vehicles.
For over fifty years, Toyota has established over 50 bases in 26 different countries and regions. Their automobiles have found their way into over 170 countries across the entire globe. In addition, Toyota has design and R&D bases in nine locations overseas, with this they prove that they have achieved consistent globalization as well as localization. The most important part in any Toyota base is the quality assurance. They don’t stamp their product with “Made in the USA” or “Made in Japan”, but instead opt for one label for all: “Made by TOYOTA.” This shows that the product is made in the “Toyota Way.” To achieve this, the company minimized support that comes from Japan to let each of their foreign locations become self-reliant. For example, a Toyota plant recently began production in Texas has made maximum use of its sibling’s experience in Kentucky which has been cultivated over the past 20 years. Toyota believes that in order to reach their goals is through educating people. Multiple Global Production Centers have been built within Motomachi Plant in Toyota City, in United States, the United Kingdom, and Thailand to carry our corresponding activities in the Asia-Pacific, European, and North American regions. To promote the “Toyota Way”, the Toyota Institute established an internal human resources development organization in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania. As you can see the pros of the globalization of Toyota are endless. This company alone has created millions of jobs across the world. Winners are not only the workers, but also the buyers, without globalization Toyota automobiles would only be available in Japan. Many people, including me, see globalization of this kind as a beneficial and advantageous result. Toyota companies have not only created jobs for thousands if not millions of people, but their
Ford’s production plants rely on very high-tech computers and automated assembly. It takes a significant financial investment and time to reconfigure a production plant after a vehicle model is setup for assembly. Ford has made this mistake in the past and surprisingly hasn’t learned the valuable lesson as evidence from the hybrid revolution their missing out on today. Between 1927 and 1928, Ford set in motion their “1928 Plan” of establishing worldwide operations. Unfortunately, the strategic plan didn’t account for economic factors in Europe driving the demand for smaller vehicles. Henry Ford established plants in Europe for the larger North American model A. Their market share in 1929 was 5.7% in England and 7.2% in France (Dassbach, 1988). Economic changes can wreak havoc on a corporation’s bottom line and profitability as well as their brand.
This paper examines the expansion of General Motors overseas in its various phases, as well as triggers for internationalization and the problems faced during the process. The paper also considers what benefits have been achieved through international growth, and how the company can be classified with regards to Bartlett and Ghosal’s 4 typologies. Finally, the paper discusses the concept of a “world car,” meeting the demands of customers across the globe.
Hybrid cars use both gas and electric. The gasoline engine is the primary source of power, while the electric motor is used at low speeds. Emissions levels are reduced because the gasoline engine shuts off at low speeds. An additional benefit of the parallel configuration is that no outside source of electric power is required because the engine itself generates the required electricity. A Hybrid Electric Vehicle known as HEV have several advantages over traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles: Regenerative braking capability, which helps minimize the energy lost when driving. Engine is sized to average load, not peak load, which reduces the weight of the engine. Fuel efficiency is greatly increased, while emissions are greatly decreased. HEVs can be operated using alternative fuels; therefore they need not be depended on fossil fuels (http://www.ott.doe.gov/hev/what.html#hev). Another great thing about these machines is the mpg; on the average, a hybrid car gets anywhere from 55-70mpg on the hwy. This is what makes the car all worth having. Now all this sounds good, but there are some issues that must be addressed.
The electric car has been around since the 1830s, eventually transitioning to a practical transportation choice in the late 1800s after improvements in the storage capacity of batteries. The electric car was at the peak of its popularity in the early 1990s. However, its popularity was short-lived; by 1935 the electric car had become a rarity, being replaced by the gas-powered vehicles. Reasons for the change being that the electric car could not travel long distances without recharging due to the limited storage capacities of batteries, it was faster to fuel a gas car than recharge an electric car, and finally, the mass production of the gas car lowered its price significantly compared to the electric car. Present day, the conventional gas powered vehicle is still preferred over electric cars, but advances in hydrogen fuel cell technology are making the option of owning a hydrogen fuel cell powered car more of a possibility as well as highlighting the benefits of other electric cars. In the following paragraphs the operation of the Ballard fuel cell is explained, the challenges with implementing a fuel cell system is discussed and lastly, the possible social and environmental effects of electric cars are explored.
BMW having high market share in European and U.S luxury car markets, started facing issues with launch product qualities and also facing a fierce competition from Japanese producers. Currently the market share was still stable but the rigorous growth of Japanese producers would affect BMW in future. These Japanese competitors had set higher standards of conformance.
Spatz, J., & Nennenkamp, P. (2002, January). Globalization of the automotive industry-traditional locations under pressure. Retrieved January 14, 2012, from http://www.uni-kiel.de/ifw/pub/kap/2002/kap1093.pdf
Hybrid cars and trucks are beginning to become very popular in our day of time. The inventor and the founder of the hybrid car was Robert Anderson. Anderson was born in Aberdeen, Scotland. He invented the vehicle in 1839. The hybrid vehicles get better gas mileage than most of the older cars and trucks. Most of the new vehicles that are being made today are some sort of hybrid or ecoboost vehicle. Almost all of your car manufacturers today are trying to create new vehicles that conserve gas which is green to the environment. Gas efficient cars are now taking over diesel car and trucks. Diesel cars and trucks usually get pretty bad gas mileage. Most of the big older trucks have a diesel engine in them. Most of the owners of a diesel vehicle usually don’t drive the vehicle much anymore because of horrible gas and diesel prices this day in time.