[Civicsman]

Prius and Insight are hybrids (without getting into the differences between series hybrids and parallel hybrids). They have a small and efficient gasoline engine for basic propulsion. They have relatively small batteries and electric motors to assist acceleration (due to the small gasoline engine), and which may allow very short distance electric-only operation. This type of hybrid comprises the majority of all hybrids that are on the market today. They are particularly good at stop-and-go driving. Sometimes their city MPG rating will exceed their highway rating. The gasoline engine comes on automatically to recharge the batteries, and on the highway, they operate on their gasoline engine, as it only takes 12-15 HP to maintain highway speeds. Since they are fundamentally driven by their gasoline engines, the Prius and Insight can be operated over long distances just like any conventional vehicle.

The Volt is a "Plug-in" hybrid. Unlike those above, you can charge the batteries by plugging it into the mains. The Volt batteries are much larger than the Prius or Insight, and the electric motors are the only direct drive mechanism. GM says you can travel "up to" 50 miles on batteries alone. This can effectively make the Volt an electric vehicle for many commuters. Charge it at home overnight, drive to work, maybe top it off at work, drive home, and plug in. However, the Volt also has a small gasoline engine/generator that automatically starts to recharge the batteries, and to provide power to drive the vehicle through the electric motors, when the batteries are depleted. Since the Volt has a gasoline engine, it can also be driven long distances, just like any other conventional vehicle.

The Nissan Leaf is pure electric. It has only batteries and electric motors. It is rated (I believe) at "up to" about 80 miles between charges, but like with Segs, there are a lot of variables. Hills, or use of air conditioner or heater will significantly reduce the remaining distance in the batteries. Turning on an accessory can lead to an instant reduction in calculated remaining miles. This has led to the creation of the term "range anxiety", where the owner wonders whether they will get home before the battery expires. This is similar to running out of gas, but commercial recharging stations are currently few and far between, and the time to achieve sufficient charge to get home could greatly exceed the time normally spent at a gas station. The Leaf, and other upcoming electric-only vehicles like the Ford Focus, are good for commuting, but effectively unusable for distance driving. It can take hours to fully recharge the battery. However, fuel costs are cheap. The US EPA rate the Leaf at the equivalent of 99 MPG.

Bob Kerns, as an owner, can surely tell us more about the Prius, but it is my perception that neither Toyota or Honda had the levels of problems that we are currently seeing with the small, boutique car companies. Perhaps my memory fails, but I would expect nothing different. Existing car companies have well-defined processes for testing which would expose many weak points before production. Startups most certainly do not have the in-house testing capability and processes that one would see at bigger and longer-existing companies. Also, existing companies have other products to support the company while they engineer and test, whereas startups are watching their cash reserves dwindle every day until they sell some vehicles. This eventually leads to a lot of pressure to go to production.

Regarding bursting into flames, it is certainly very bad PR. However, it is worth defining the circumstances of the the two Volt vehicles where this occurred. Both had been through very serious crashes, and neither had subsequently been discharged by fire/emergency crews. GM has published information about how to deal with electrical issues (high voltage, post crash, etc) and has provided hardware support to fire departments. In these two cases, the proper procedures were not followed, and the batteries eventually degraded.