Gasoline prices increase to a record, hybrid cars are ‘expensive’

Reasonable choice

Although electric vehicles are developing rapidly, Prime Group Chairman Luong Nam Hung, a leading figure in Singapore’s auto industry, still believes that in the next 5-10 years, hybrid vehicles are the choice that brings calculate the best period.

Singapore is a developed country, with a high per capita income, but electric vehicle sales in recent years only accounted for 0.5%. High car prices and underdeveloped infrastructure are limitations, making people’s accessibility to this type of vehicle low.

Vietnam is still behind many countries in the region. Experts in the automobile industry said that electric cars in Vietnam can only be popular from 2045 onwards. In order for pure electric vehicles to become popular, large investments must be made in infrastructure and charging station systems. This is not a small barrier for developing countries like Vietnam.

Some customers who are using pure electric cars in Vietnam said that because the public charging station system is still small, it is still most convenient to charge at home. Thus, only people who have their own houses on the ground such as villas, townhouses, cars parked in front of doors or in garages, will have convenient conditions to charge electric vehicle batteries. The most inconvenient are those who live in high-rise apartments, live in deep alleys, have to park their cars in the basement or far from home, but don’t have a public charging station.

Gasoline prices are becoming more and more expensive, causing many people to want to change by giving up internal combustion engine cars and switching to pure electric cars, but in the current situation, it is not possible. Hybrid cars are the right choice for Vietnam at the moment, said automotive expert Nguyen Minh Dong.

Hybrid car is a hybrid vehicle between gasoline and electricity, flexibly using these two sources of energy depending on operating conditions. This can help the car both optimize fuel consumption and reduce emissions to the environment. Unlike conventional gasoline cars, hybrid cars are equipped with batteries to store electricity. When the car is on the road, every time the brake is applied, the car’s energy is lost. The faster the vehicle goes, especially from a steep slope, the greater its kinetic energy and this energy will be destroyed when the driver applies the brake. Thanks to Hybrid technology, every time the driver applies the brake pedal, the electric motor will absorb the inertia force to convert it into electric current to charge the battery. This power source will be used to run the electric motor when the vehicle needs to accelerate and increase traction. Cars that run on gasoline or diesel alone do not take advantage of this energy source.

Hybrid advantage

Since Toyota’s first hybrid model, the Prius, was introduced in 1997, it has sold more than 16 million units to date. Global fuel economy has reached over 52 billion liters and CO2 emissions are reduced by more than 139 million tons, compared to internal combustion engines. Toyota estimates that the emissions of a traditional 2.0 petrol engine car are about 170g CO2/km, while with a Hybrid car, this figure is 98g.

In August 2020, Toyota Vietnam launched the Corolla Cross model, including a version using Hybrid technology. This is the first time this technology has been applied to the popular car segment. Test run the Corolla Cross Hybrid (1.8HV) with a capacity of 170 horsepower and the Corolla Cross using a regular gasoline engine (1.8V) with 138 horsepower, on a distance of 146 km from Hanoi to Pu Luong (Thanh Hoa), there is enough on both highways, steep slopes, Hybrid technology saves up to 35.7% of fuel.

Specifically, the 1.8HV version only consumes nearly 4.2 liters of gasoline / 100km, while the 1.8V version consumes 6.5 liters / 100km. Some other tests show that, running in urban areas, the 1.8HV version is 50% more fuel efficient than the 1.8V version, because the car brakes a lot, so the energy regeneration system can significantly charge the battery, 2/3 the distance only the electric motor works, and the gasoline engine stops working.

Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid since its appearance has been well received by Vietnamese users. Sales increased continuously and more and more cars were on the road. Since then, it has paved the way for Toyota to continue bringing Camry Hybrid to Vietnam for distribution in the third quarter of 2021. This model is also immediately chosen by many consumers, when buying a D-class sedan.

Following the success, recently Toyota continued to bring the Altis Hybrid model back to Vietnam. Hybrid technology on Toyota Altis is also the technology equipped on Toyota Corola Cross. Toyota Altis Hybrid version is priced at 860 million VND. This is a car using Hybrid technology with the lowest price on the Vietnamese car market today.

The most convenient with Hybrid cars is that there is no need for external charging, but still saves fuel and operates smoothly. Not only that, with many modern technologies equipped, along with the rejuvenation of design and reasonable sales policy, Toyota Vietnam is exploring the potential of the potential Hybrid market segment, while promoting the change in habits and concepts of using cars, contributing to keeping the environment green and clean.

Minh Ngoc