My Toyota Prius just turned 100,000. That’s quite a milestone for a car and it may be a harbinger of things to come. Many planners are betting so-called “peak oil” will undermine our car culture because we won’t have the fuel to feed them. The history of my Prius suggests otherwise.
My Toyota Prius just turned 100,000. That's quite a milestone for a car and it may be a harbinger of things to come. Many planners are betting so-called "peak oil" will undermine our car culture because we won't have the fuel to feed them. The history of my Prius suggests otherwise.
When my Prius was "born" in 2001, hybrids were an oddity. Toyota sold fewer than 15,000 of the cars in the U.S., despite the fact the technology had already been proven in Japan. It even subsidized the retail price of the car, using it as a loss leader to build a new market.
In 2003, my Prius had been sitting on the lot for six months, unwanted, until the salesman gave me a deal to roll it home. It's diminutive size reminded us of the family car Fred Flintstone "drove" using his feet to power it along. So we named it "Fred".
Despite these humble beginnings, Fred has been great. In fact, he's still running on his original rear brake pads. We had the front pads replaced on its 100,000 birthday. We change the oil every 5,000 miles, and it hums along, often silently, reliably getting 48 mpg.
Now, driving in 2007, my decision to buy Fred looks brilliant. Gas prices bumped up to $2 per gallon by the end of 2004. By the summer of 2005, prices had eclipsed $3 per gallon in many parts of the nation, particularly on the coasts. Refinery bottlenecks, reformulated gas mandates, Nigeria, uncertainty created by pesky South American socialists, and a protracted military presence in the Middle East conspired to keep prices relatively high.
Hybrid sales jumped along with gas prices. Hybrid sales are on track to sell 345,000 by the end of the year according to JD Power & Associates. Toyota continues to be the leader, wracking up more than half of all hybrid sales. But this is the tip of the iceberg. JD Power speculates that 65 hybrid models will swarm onto the market by 2010. Toyota alone has a corporate strategy targeting 600,000 sales in the U.S. early in the next decade. The next generation will advertise fuel efficiency approaching 70 mpg (or more).
Hybrids are still a small part of the overall car market, but it is a growing segment. And this bodes well for the future of the automobile. The technology is improving, potentially building into all automobiles resilience to environmental regulation and eventually dwindling oil supplies. So, reports of the death of the automobile and automobility are greatly exaggerated. We need to make sure we plan for more mobility, not less.
The Car Reconsidered
When most people use their cars in urban settings, what sort of vehicle is optimal? MIT's Media Lab asks the question, in their quest to invent the next generation of personal mobility.
The ROI of Hybrids
With gas prices as they are, does it make sense to ditch your SUV and buy a hybrid? Count on the Wall St. Journal to break it down a discussion of your return on investment.
Congestion Costing Reality Check, Part 1: Congestion evaluation best practices
Widely cited studies claim that traffic congestion is a huge and growing problem. They exaggerate. Let’s examine how to correctly calculate congestion costs and roadway expansion benefits.
Amtrak, CN end decades-long dispute with eight-year agreement
The new operating agreement establishes an updated framework for the companies to work together, including processes to resolve disputes.
Judges permit Denver to divert 77,000 acre feet from the Colorado River for reservoir expansion
Overuse and climate change have caused the Colorado River’s water levels to plummet.
Nation's most wind-powered state turns to coal as data centers increase energy demand
For the first time in decades, Iowa has increased its generation of coal power.
Boston has spent millions making the Green Line more accessible — and there’s no end in sight
While the city has invested millions into expanding and adding platforms to the Green Line to make it more accessible, new train cars set to arrive next year will be too tall for disabled passengers to board without raising the current platforms.
Idaho may see an 18% drop in federal surface transit funding — the largest estimated cut in the US
Transit systems in rural communities are much more reliant on federal funding to provide their services.
How ‘post-disaster gentrification’ alters neighborhoods after natural calamities
After hurricanes, fires or other calamities, the original residents of a community are often replaced by younger, wealthier residents.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
KFH Group Inc.
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
