EVLN(hybrid Click-n-Clack)

[Bruce EVangel Parmenter <brucedp@yahoo.com>]

EVLN(hybrid Click-n-Clack)
[The Internet Electric Vehicle List News. For Public EV
 informational purposes. Contact publication for reprint rights.]
 --- {EVangel}
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthtribune/3289221.htm
Posted on Sat, May. 18, 2002
Are gas-electric hybrids dangerous to tow?
{/mcut}BY TOM AND RAY MAGLIOZZI

Dear Tom and Ray:
I am an environmental regulator who lives and works in a
semi-rural area in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. I
have been really interested in getting one of the hybrid
gas-electric Ford Escapes that are supposed to come out next
year. Some other people I work with are in the same boat. We
are all attracted to the idea of a rugged vehicle with
enough ground clearance to handle local gravel roads, and
that still gets really good gas mileage and has low
emissions. But I heard somebody say that nobody wants to tow
hybrid vehicles that have been in a crash or have broken
down. Is this true? Are tow-truck drivers actually having
problems with hydrogen emissions? Sparks? Shorts? -- Tom

RAY: Well, my brother has had problems with shorts. But it's
usually after I give him an atomic wedgie.

TOM: The answer to your question is, we don't really know.
There is obviously some danger. Gasoline-powered cars can be
dangerous when they crash. And hybrids have both a gasoline
engine AND a high-voltage electric motor.

RAY: But from what we've been able to learn, and from what
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration tells us,
the danger appears to be minimal.

RAY: For example, the Toyota Prius has a 274-volt electric
motor in addition to a small gasoline engine. But in order
to get a shock from the electric motor, you'd have to strip
the casing off of both the positive and the negative wires
and touch both of them at the same time. And since they run
through an enclosed tunnel in the center of the car's floor
and are both encased in bright orange, that's not something
an emergency worker is going to do by accident.

TOM: And if the accident were severe enough to expose those
wires, what are the chances that the electric motor would
still be in a condition to be "on'' and working? Probably
low. So electrocution seems to be an unlikely scenario.

RAY: The other reason the wires are buried in a tunnel in
the floor is so that if someone were using a Jaws of Life on
a door or on the roof, he or she would be nowhere near any
live wires.

TOM: As far as towing, there's really no danger at all to
road-service folks. In the case of the Prius, the
instructions for towing are the same as for any other
front-wheel-drive car. And I suspect that will be true of
the Ford Escape hybrid -- the same as for all-wheel-drive
vehicles, in that case.

RAY: Jump-starting also poses no additional risks, as far as
we know -- unless you count having a burly tow-truck driver
snicker at you for being a Birkenstock-wearing tree-hugger.
The Prius has a separate, standard 12-volt car battery
that's used to start the gasoline engine, and that's the one
you'd use to get a jump-start. Road-service folks would have
no contact with the larger battery pack at all.

TOM: We know that Toyota makes these details available to
emergency-response workers, and I'm sure Ford will, too.
Chances are, there will be some folks who are nervous about
working with these vehicles, but it'll probably be due more
to unfamiliarity than to real danger.

RAY: But it's a good question, Tom. And if we hear of any
problems that DO come up, we'll certainly let everybody
know.

Dear Tom and Ray:
I want to comment on a column you recently wrote about
putting sandbags in the back of a pickup truck.
[...]
RAY: OK! Uncle! We'll remember to tell people to secure
their loose cargo next time! Thanks to everyone who wrote.
-




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