THE CAR OF THE FUTURE - The Power Surge: Energy, Opportunity, and the Battle for America's Future - page 115

an internal combustion engine with a bat ery-operated electric motor
hasn't changed since. 19
For most of the next century, though, conventional wisdom held that
hybrid electric vehicles faced dim prospects for success. h ey were too
expensive, and given the design challenge that wasn't a surprise. 20 Engines
were complex and costly, and hybrids needed two. 21 h is added not only
cost but also weight, which in turn required bigger engines. And when
spiking oil prices started to enter the cost equation in the 1970s, hybrids
ran into another problem: enthusiasm for bat ery-only cars made them
seem tame. As late as 1990, one group of analysts suggested that “the
very at ractiveness of the hybrid concept might discourage development
of, and compete in the marketplace with, advanced bat ery-only vehicles
with longer range than today's best vehicles and emissions benei ts supe-
rior to those of the hybrid.” 22 Hybrid cars were caught in a no-man's-
land: too alternative for hardcore oil boosters, too traditional for die-hard
advocates of alternatives.
But there was some progress. In 1972, Victor Wouk, a Caltech-trained
researcher, modii ed a 1972 Buick Skylark into a successful hybrid. 23
His prototype could reach 85 mph while slashing fuel consumption. 24
A Ford experiment in 1976 demonstrated that hybrid engines could
deliver fuel economy gains of 70 percent. 25 But Wouk's Environmental
Protection Agency‒funded project was cut short for lack of long-term
government interest in the technology . 26
More typical were hybrids that showed the technology's limitations.
h e Hybrid Test Vehicle (HTV-1), the Department of Energy's only
prototype during the decade following the i rst Arab oil crisis, was close
to two tons in total weight. 27 Compared to other cars on the road at
the time, it was almost a thousand pounds heavier. 28 Private companies'
designs didn't do much bet er. h e Briggs and Strat on Corporation's 1979
prototype hybrid was considered promising, but it needed six wheels
so that the extra bat ery weight wouldn't collapse the car. h e electric
motor on the vehicle accelerated from 0 to 30 mph in an appallingly slow
10.5 seconds, and the car's top speed was 55 mph. 29 A report from the
Congressional Oi ce of Technology Assessment lamented in 1982 that
“substantial penetration by electric and/or hybrid vehicles (EHVs) before
the end of the century is unlikely, and doubtful even thereat er.” 30