The Birth, Death, and Rebirth of the American Hybrid Engine

                Cars are a large part of American history and our present way of life. They are an affordable mode of private transportation capable of both speed and utility. The hybrid engine is an innovation currently used to save on gas and reduce our carbon footprint. Development of the hybrid engine that preceded our current model was completed in 1974 and was functionally a success, but hybrids were not widely available on the market until the 1990s.

                The article Present at Creation, hosted by Gardner Business Media, focuses on the initial developers of the hybrid engine in America and the project’s end. Starting as an interest in electric power and thermodynamics, their interest in the project grew when they saw it as a means to alternate future fuel sources. Once they got a patent, they got some support from people interested in protecting the environment, but ultimately the hybrid car was dismissed by local and foreign manufacturers. Not much info on the engine’s dismissal is given besides manufacturers calling it too expensive and complicated.

                Ultimately hybrid cars didn’t pick back up until Toyota released the Prius, once again leaving American manufacturers to race to compete with successful new foreign models. While I don’t know about changes in manufacturing cost, given the similarity of these cars engine to the one complete almost 20 years earlier, it’s easy to guess that manufacturers hadn’t put much of that time into developing the hybrid engine further.

                Change is frequently shunned by those it affects as many people would rather avoid risks. Ultimately the incident with the hybrid car is quite comparable to American car companies’ initial reaction to smaller foreign vehicles. Having pioneered car manufacturing and been successful with their current models, the Ford Company (and others) dismissed the rising popularity of smaller cars until they saw significant drops in profit. This reluctance to change their product reflects on the legacy thinking that has led to the stagnation of efforts by companies to improve the environmental footprints of their products at the possible expense of profits.

                While I found the development of the hybrid engine interesting, the lack of detail regarding the end of interest after its development leads me to wonder how much independent effort manufacturers put into seeing if they could use it before dismissing it.