Hermancing the Hybrid
Nobody asked me but . . .
This is a sad day in our small auto community. Dave Hermance is gone. He lost his life while playing in his aerobatic flyer, which is probably the only thing in his life, except for his family and friends that he loved more than hybrid powertrains.
Dave was Mr. Hybrid at Toyota. He didn’t invent the hybrid, but he did more than any other individual to popularize the concept. And he had more to do with the Prius’s success in the U.S. than any other Toyota employee. Dave made hybrid synonymous with Toyota and vice versa.
An engineer with the rare ability to simplify the complicated. Dave was so good at explaining hybrid technology that he traveled the world to preach the Toyota hybrid doctrine. To other engineers, sure. But to politicians and to consumers, and, yes, even to the media. It was Dave who first explained that the CVT in the Prius Hybrid wasn’t a bunch of belts, bands, pulleys and rollers but rather a much more sophisticated, but simpler, electronic transmission.
Dave was also an outspoken critic of the EPA's methods and would express his displeasure in presentations and discussions with journalists. I think what he really wanted to see was for the EPA to base mileage estimates on actual fuel consumption, like some other countries.
My favorite Hermance story comes from an email I sent him when I was researching an article on alternative pwertrains for the year 2015 for the Auto Club of Southern California magazine, Westways. Being a left-handed typist I had transposed two letters in the word hybrid when I typed the subject line of the email I was sending to Dave. It read: Hybird Questions. Not more than five minutes later I had a response from Dave. It read: “Your last email was a sight for soar eyes.”
Dave Hermance was one of a kind. He will be sorely and soarly missed.
This is a sad day in our small auto community. Dave Hermance is gone. He lost his life while playing in his aerobatic flyer, which is probably the only thing in his life, except for his family and friends that he loved more than hybrid powertrains.
Dave was Mr. Hybrid at Toyota. He didn’t invent the hybrid, but he did more than any other individual to popularize the concept. And he had more to do with the Prius’s success in the U.S. than any other Toyota employee. Dave made hybrid synonymous with Toyota and vice versa.
An engineer with the rare ability to simplify the complicated. Dave was so good at explaining hybrid technology that he traveled the world to preach the Toyota hybrid doctrine. To other engineers, sure. But to politicians and to consumers, and, yes, even to the media. It was Dave who first explained that the CVT in the Prius Hybrid wasn’t a bunch of belts, bands, pulleys and rollers but rather a much more sophisticated, but simpler, electronic transmission.
Dave was also an outspoken critic of the EPA's methods and would express his displeasure in presentations and discussions with journalists. I think what he really wanted to see was for the EPA to base mileage estimates on actual fuel consumption, like some other countries.
My favorite Hermance story comes from an email I sent him when I was researching an article on alternative pwertrains for the year 2015 for the Auto Club of Southern California magazine, Westways. Being a left-handed typist I had transposed two letters in the word hybrid when I typed the subject line of the email I was sending to Dave. It read: Hybird Questions. Not more than five minutes later I had a response from Dave. It read: “Your last email was a sight for soar eyes.”
Dave Hermance was one of a kind. He will be sorely and soarly missed.
posted by The Carmudgeon at
7:50 PM
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