Back in 2004-2005, when I was looking to get a new car, I looked really hard at the New Beetles - but I could not get over that they had (at the time) no plans to produce a hybrid version of the Bug. The small car seemed, to me, to be a natural for hybrid technology. Alas, I went with my 2005 Prius and have enjoyed it greatly.
Here's a guy that didn't take "no" for an answer.
Bart Grabman, a senior at Stellar Secondary School in Anchorage, Alaska had a great idea to convert his car to electric. “We have a class called Passages, and in that course everyone’s supposed to pick a project or idea that they want to expand and do something big with, and so I thought, ‘What’s something awesome that I can do?’” Grabman recalls.
Grabman remembered a visiting speaker who had talked about converting his own truck to electric, so he decided to attempt the project himself. Grabman did research on the Internet, figured out what to get, what to do, and found a car — a cheap 1971 VW beetle.
Grabman says, “If you have a lot of money it’ll be easy.” After a few weeks of looking, he found an electric car part kit on eBay for around $3,500. “People have been pretty supportive of the idea. I’ve gotten a lot people who have offered to help and want to help out in any way they can,” says Grabman, who has gotten some donations from the Stellar parent group and from family and friends. “But mostly I just owe my mom a lot of money right now.” But for all the costs, there are substantial benefits to owning an electric car.
But with a do-it-yourself price tag of at least $4,000, do the benefits outweigh the costs? For Grabman, the answer is an unhesitating yes.
“It’s a school project, it’s a learning project,” he says, unconcerned about whether the car will pay for itself in saved trips to the gas pump. “It’s about the process and the product, not just one or the other.”
“It’s been an interesting experience trying to figure it out, like, Oh, I guess I shouldn’t have taken that out. I didn’t really know what I was doing when I started, which is what kind of made the project so much fun. I’m not done with it, so I’m still learning a lot.”
It is rare to find a project in which the journey is as rewarding as the final result, not to mention one that helps the environment while saving you gas money. As EVs gain popularity, converting to electric may is the way of the future. (from: The Tuscaloosa News)
Finally, someone at VW paid attention, both to people like Grabman and the people clambering for Hybrid vehicles.
Even without a single hybrid vehicle (and due to a number of diesel fueled options), Volkswagen has consistently been near the top of many fuel efficiency lists. So, just imagine what would happen if the company decided to take one of their models, such as the Jetta or Beetle, and put some battery-charged hybrid goodness in. Well, a few months after announcing that they plan to put a hybrid engine in some of their compact models, V-Dub is taking all this hybrid talk a step further. Now, every upcoming VW model is scheduled to have a hybrid option, with some models hybrid-ready as early as next year.
Although only some models will have the power of full hybridization behind them (with the others taking advantage of "partial hybrid" technology), Volkswagen does have plans to eventually even offer full-electric versions of its smaller cars. The company has not yet released which cars will get the full and partial hybrid treatment, nor which cars are being considered for full electric status. One thing is for sure, Volkswagen wants to make sure we still see their name near the top of every fuel efficiency list released.
(from: AutoblogGreen)
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