The Prius a Screaming Teen Hot Rod or Hybrid for the Granola Crunching Crowd?

It was the car, a Prius, not the celebrity offender, that grabbed the lime light and had everyone abuzz. Recently, Al Gore III, son of former Vice President Al Gore, was arrested for possessing marijuana and speeding over 100 mph on the San Diego Freeway in his Toyota Prius.

Ho hum another celebrity in trouble with the law. What's new? A hybrid caught speeding over 100 mph that's what.

Speed tests have shown that the new Prius can attain speeds up 103 mph. When compared with other Toyotas such as a Camry which can go up to 130 mph, that is not too fast. Even the Hybrid Camry can go 117 mph.

On the other hand, the Prius is not the slowest vehicle on the road either. Car and Driver magazine complied statistics which show that the AM General Hummer H1 has the top speed of only 88 mph.

The equalizer, however, is the speed governor that most American cars must have for liability reasons. The governor insures that a car will not go too fast for its tires. Although Pruis tops 103 mph, the governor limits both the Prius and the Corolla to 112 mph.

There are several factors that limit the Prius hybrid to 103 mph.

First, Toyota made a conscious decision to limit the Prius speed to 103 mph. Mike Michels, spokesman for Toyota, stated that the Prius hybrid is capable of going even faster. But the car is speed limited to 103 mph to avoid using up its battery.

He stated that "It can go 103 mph indefinitely." Until the gas runs out that is.

Second, Toyota created the Prius to be fuel efficient which leads to it having less horsepower than a conventional car. A car with less horsepower will not consume as much gas, but will also have less speed.

Hybrids don't necessarily have to have less horsepower. The gas motor and electric motor of a hybrid can be combined to create as much horsepower as a conventional vehicle. For example, the conventional, four-cylinder Toyota Camry has 158 horsepower. While the four-cylinder, Hybrid Camry has 187 horsepower. So, not all hybrid are designed for fuel efficiency.

But, how can the Hybrid Prius attain 103 mph?

Serveral factors come into play. First, automotive technology has raised the speed limit for all vehicles in general. Russ Rader, spokesman for Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said that if he tried to go 100 mph in his 1983 Oldsmobile Delta 88, "It would probably shakes its bolts loose."

Second, the globalized car market has resulted in higher driver expectations that the Prius has to meet. Some European countries have no speed limit while the rest have higher speed limits than the US.

Third, for Prius advocates, "Efficiency is just another way to spell performance." In otherwords, Toyota optimized the Prius hybrid to have a high speed performance. They achieved this by aerodynamically designing the car to have low drag, light weight, and have tires with low rolling resistance which reduces the friction between the rubber and the road.

Michels states that the car has everything that a hotrodder wants "from aero resistance to rolling resistance, cooling systems and the powertrain itself."

Although it is no help to Gore, his arrest has show cased the Prius as a high speed car to be reckoned with. A poster on Priuschat.com. wrote "At least the bashers can't say the car is pokey or slow."

Want to Buy a Hybrid, But Afraid to Commit?

The rising demand for hybrids is overflowing at the car rental counter. Rental agencies are increasingly adding hybrids to their fleet of automobiles. Toyota Prius hybrids seem to be the hybrid of choice.

The rentals give Toyota Motor Corp. a chance to show off their Prius and give potential buyers a opportunity to try out a hybrid and decide if it would be right for them.

Hertz Global Holdings Inc., Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Avis Budget Group Inc. all offer Toyota's Prius hybrid at selected branches.

Hertz stated that it will invest $68 million to increase its fleets by 3,400 Prius hybrids by 2008. Consumers can rent a Prius from Hertz at 50 branches of the company's U.S airport locations. The New York City offices will have a 100 hybrids available.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is in favor of increasing hybrid rental cars. He stated that the hybrid vehicles lines up the city's goal of reducing its emissions by 30 percent by the year 2030.

The stop and go traffic of Manhattan traffic is especially suited for hybrids as it allow them to run mainly on their electric motors thereby reducing vehicle emissions.

Carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced by as estimated 3,000 tons per year when a 1,000 ordinary rental cars are replaced by a Prius hybrid according to a Hertz's spokesman.

Not to be out done, Avis said it plans to make 1,000 Prius hybrid vehicles available right away. A spokesman for Avis, John Barrows, stated that the hybrids will be offered in its California, Portland, Seattle and Washington D.C. markets. Avis will consider expansion into other locations if the consumer demand for hybrids is apparent.

Already, Enterprise offers more than 3,000 hybrid electric vehicles, besides 41,000 flex-fuel cars and light trucks that can run on ethanol-based fuel.

Fox Rent A Car which has offices in the US and international affiliate locations around the world teamed up with EV Rental Cars. EV Rental, the only enviromental based rental car company in the US, has offices in Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, and Washington, D.C.

Jeff Pink, founder and CEO of EV Rental Cars decided he wanted a career in protecting the environment after descending into smog fill Los Angeles after vacating in Hawaii with his wife. So he started a rental car company with only green rental cars. Later he teamed up with Fox Rental A Car to increase his presence in the rental car market.

One of the hybrids in EV Rental's fleet is the Ford Escape Hybrid. So, consumers can try a SUV hybrid before they buy one. EV Rental bought the Escape Hybrids from a Ventura California dealer. However, Ford is not making the Escape Hybrids available to the general daily rental market. Unlike Prius, Ford Escape Hybrids are not mass produced. So far, EV Rental or Fox Rent A Car is the only rental company where you can try out a Ford Escape Hybrid.

Brian Chee, an automobile analyst for MyRide.com said that even with the additional hybrid vehicles to rental fleets, the hybrids still only represent a small portion of the rental market. Chee said that it would be interesting to see if rental companies still keep adding hybrids to their fleets after their initial expansion.

With its addition of 3,400 hybrids, Hertz shows the most promise for making hybrids available for rent in the US market. However, not all car dealers are enthusiastic about providing hybrid vehicles for rent. For example, an Austin-area Honda dealer said that it was against corporate policy to sell hybrids to rental agencies. The dealer expressed a desire to keep resale values high for consumers.