Hybrids, HEV are everywhere. 2008 was the year everyone wanted a hybrid and the year when it became mainstream.
The gist is, if 2008 revived electric vehicle, EV, HEV got their share of the lion. Poster child Toyota’s Prius embodies what a hybrid car is, a symbol, a statement that you are looking for good gas mileage or concerned with the environment, and in many case, both.
If Toyota also has a sedan version of its Camry and its Highlander SUV.
Honda was the first HEV before the Prius with its original Insight.
and the new one due next year 
and also a civic. Though Honda lost ground to Toyota, it is set to battle it out with their new HEV Insight. Nissan has one, Detroit have a few and pretty much by year end, almost every major auto maker had a HEV. Whereas Detroit hybridized big heavy vehicles, Europeans and Asians chose to do it with lighter cars.
Hybrid vs Plug-in Hybrid. A new term consumers learned this year, and got confused with was plug-in hybrid, PHEV. If a hybrid car has a gas and electric engine, a plug-in hybrid will let you recharge the batteries, something an HEV won’t do. To further complicate things, most HEV are simple hybrids, where both engines directly move the car. More advance forms of HEV have the electric engine alone move the car, the gas engine is a generator for electricity. This is where hybrids are going and by recharging batteries, you have a vehicle that can theoretically run on electricity alone. Something, we are sure must make petroleum company uneasy. Confused about the terminology, check our article here.
GM’s Volt. Has any other car gotten more press coverage than the Volt this year?
Whether you like it or not, the Volt is where HEVs are going. Unfortunately, GM chose to confuse consumers by calling it an extended range electric vehicle, EREV instead of a PHEV. The idea is to make it stand out as better than a hybrid. GM insist it is an electric car with an engine on board, but that is the definition of an HEV. Nonetheless, we are happy to see this car ready to spring into production.
Converting HEV to PHEV. With people tired of waiting for PHEV to come out, many took matters in their own hands and converted their Prius from simple hybrids to plug-in hybrids. The result? More than 100mpg for some, instead of 45.
Innovating, The 150 mpg SUV. AFS Trinity impressed us when we drove their SUV. It not only behaved well, had plenty of spunk and was very frugal on gas. Why hasn’t Detroit absorbed that company? In the meantime, as FindArticles reports, the company is now looking for $2.5 billion in order to retool a closing car factory to mass produce its vehicle. And you can read more on our good experience with their XH-150 here.
2008 has really been a wake up call for automakers to start making plug-in hybrids that people want and ask for. Toyota will update its Prius to become a PHEV, eventually. In the meantime, smaller companies, such as Aptera are showing promising results.