I disagree completely with the assessment you gave about the benefits of a
hybrid for long haul driving. I own a Honda Civic Hybrid and get 45 mpg on
the freeway at 72 mph. I get about 36 in the city.
I have  an 80 Vanagon with a 95 Jetta gas engine in it but it is so new that
I have not road tested for mileage. Would love to have a hybrid system in
it.

Charlie Ikard

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
Of Jim Akiba
Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2008 7:17 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Hybrid Vanagon

Keep in mind that a hybrid will be a total waste of time/money  for
the vast majority of vanagon owners. Vanagons are typically long-haul
vehicles, not city drivers, the hybrid's benefits will be almost
completely lost on long haul driving. not to mention that $15k-$25k
buys a lot of gas. You *might* be able get 100mpg by installing a
200cc engine and driving at 35, but it's a lot easier/cheaper to get a
motorcycle.  Getting the hybrid into a vanagon it totally doable, in
fact with a synco front end, you could do an easy(relatively speaking)
front/rear electric/gas hybrid.. but it isn't, and likely will never
be worth it.

Jim Akiba

On Sat, Jun 28, 2008 at 11:27 PM, M'obeechi <obeechi@runbox.com> wrote:
> I don't want to give up on gasoline completely - I'm spending too much on
the subaru engine (now the second type, a turbo) to walk away... but I think
the writing is on the wall for a hybrid approach. Not sure if Fuel Cell
still stands a change (MBZ hasn't given up on them), and then there are
electric and gasoline hybrids... I just want to extend my mileage in the 100
miles per gallon range... but yeah, waiting it out makes sense... However, I
do want to be among the first 100 vanagon owners who take the plunge into
doing this. Might be tricky figuring out how to squeeze this into the
Vanagon.
>
> From: Robert Fisher <refisher@MCHSI.COM>
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Hybrid Vanagon
>
>> My initial thought on this is that if you want to get away from internal
>> combustion entirely or even mostly, than you might want to wait 3-5
years.
>> There are a number of technologies or approaches that are 'on the cusp',
so
>> to speak, that should have either failed or made a breakthrough by then
and
>> the practical options should be clearer.
>>
>> Cya,
>> Robert
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "M'obeechi" <obeechi@RUNBOX.COM>
>> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>> Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2008 5:50 PM
>> Subject: Hybrid Vanagon
>>
>>
>> I was looking up hybrid vehicles. Something in Wikipedia was saying
better
>> to start with a car that has a manual transmission, that the AT wastes
>> energy. But they were talking about a conversion that removes the
internal
>> combustion engine. I'm interested in maybe one day putting in electric
>> motors or what-ever-is-good to supplement the engine in my vanagon (which
is
>> Subaru at this point). Thing is, I have an Automatic and want don't want
to
>> consider a manual.
>>
>> Can someone point me in the right direction. Has this been discussed or
done
>> with a vanagon yet. I'm not really thinking propane, I'm in Southern
>> California, plus my engine is being switched over to a turbo, and since
>> propane needs high compression, I don't think that would make sense.
>>
>> The paper today said that jet fuel cost has increased 80% this year. I
won't
>> be surprised if gasoline reaches 25 dollars a gallon within the decade.
>>
>
> ----- End Original Message -----
>