Hybrid car designers have to satisfy two groups
Published Monday August 3rd, 2009
Instruments promote green driving techniques among owners
VANCOUVER - People who buy hybrid vehicles clearly want to cut their fuel consumption and, just maybe, reduce emissions and help save the planet.
But buyers seem to fall into two categories: those who don't worry about the magic happening under the hood and simply enjoy their payoff at the fuel pump, and those who want the car to validate their choice by telling them how well they're doing.
The challenge for hybrid designers is to satisfy both groups when they lay out the vehicle's instrument cluster.
Hybrids combine electric motors with conventional gasoline or diesel engines to reduce fuel consumption and tailpipe emissions.
Some, like Honda's system, mostly boost the engine's power, allowing for a smaller thriftier engine.
Others, like Toyota, allow for the battery-powered electric motor alone to move the car at lower speeds, say in stop-and-go traffic.
How much of these goings-on does the driver need or want to know?
Toyota's iconic Prius had a big, colourful display in the centre of the dashboard with an animated graphic showing, among other things, whether the electric motor, gas engine or both were driving the car.
For the third-generation 2010 Prius, Toyota has actually ditched the big display in favour of a blue LCD screen on its instrument panel.
Drivers can use a steering wheel-mounted button to toggle through screens showing everything from the familiar Prius power diagram to minute-by-minute slices of fuel consumption and recent economical trips.
"The first converts to Prius were people who really were trying to make an environmental statement or do something different," says Stephen Beatty, Toyota Canada's managing director.
But Beatty says as hybrids move further into the mainstream, drivers seem more interested in the underlying technology delivering the goods than in some visual manifestation of how it's working.
The new Prius's instrument panel is located just below the windshield, which Beatty says allows drivers to drop their eyes only slightly from the road to read the information.
Honda's new Insight, which outwardly resembles the Prius, created something called Eco Assist, aimed at teaching the driver to eke the best performance from the car.
Manuel Santos, a dedicated hypermiler who owns several hybrids, loves the setup.
"The most important tool to Eco Assist is in your line of sight," he says.
"The speedometer changes the background colour and that's basically your primary tool."
A green tinge to the speedo means optimally efficient driving. Otherwise, it's shades of blue.
It's augmented by an Eco Guide readout just behind the steering wheel that offers information similar to that of the Prius, such as trip and lifetime fuel economy.
As additional encouragement, green drivers are rewarded with a growing garden of flowers on the Eco Guide display.
The greener you drive, the more leaves and flowers it sprouts.
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