Hybrids Gas Mileage in the real world...INTERESTING !

mean this one?

Technology has gotten a long way, hasn't it! ;-) Cripes my wife's '93 Caprice got 22 MPH last trip, with the air on, driving

75 MPH, with four people in the car. Try that in a hybrid! Plus the trunk is big enough to hold 2-3 bodies, and the rear seat leg room is good. The darned thing has 150k miles on it too. It is large enough so it feels like you are sitting in a car too, not wearing it! Greg

I found this quote

"In 2000, the first full year a hybrid -- the Honda Insight -- was on the market, hybrid fuel economy averaged 65 miles per gallon. Now, with seven hybrids on the market, average fuel economy has slipped to around 45 mpg, according to Edmunds.com.

Over the same period, average horsepower for hybrids has climbed from

73 to 176.4 this year. "

here:

TANSTAAFL ;-(

Greg

The problem is the consumer relies on the US Govenment EPA ratings posted on the car.

The problem is the way the test is conducted, does not give a true reflection of the fuel consumed by the car.

If the test was conducted by most any normal person, they would put a gallon in the tank and driev over the same course and document the miles gone before the gas runs out! EPA mandates that the test be conduced differently! They measure the tailpipe emissions under certain circumstances. Obviously the electric engine helping will reduce the emissions, but the test does not factor real world driving.

The hybrid owners have been flooding the dealers with complaints over the misrepresentation but they are using the only numbers the government allows. Articles I have read state that the hybrid owners are lucky to get 60% of the advertised MPG for any of the models. Save your money and don't buy hybrid, since you can buy cars now that are run on Gasoline with better fuel economy.

I won't waste my money on any of the hybrids since my RAM get almost as good on mileage as any of the three that Bob G.'s article listed - with A/C running full blast.

I have no experience with the Accord hybrid, but my mother's Civic hybrid did a real-world 47mpg on the highway on a trip to New Jersey and back from Florida late last year.

As far as the defroster sucking up fuel, that's because the engineers at the car companies assume their customers are idiots, and wire up the defrost to run the AC compressor whether it's needed or not. If they would go ahead and switch from an engine driven compressor to an electric one then it would have a MUCH diminished effect on fuel economy.

Last time I looked the gas mileage of the US fleet was around 20mpg, which is the _lowest_ it's been in 20 years, and instead of getting better it's getting worse.

AP

Of course. Fuel economy isn't _sexy_! Horsepower _is_!

Good article.

Yup. If you want to make horsepower you have to burn fuel.

But hybrids have certain other advantages. True hybrids, that is.

Several years ago Oshkosh Diesel made a hybrid of their 8x8 heavy truck. They used off the shelf parts that have been used in diesel-electric locomotives for decades. They went from 2 transmissions and 5 gearboxes to engine, generator, controller, and 4 electric motors. Their truck's fuel consumption was cut in half, and reliability was doubled.

Now if engineers can just get that kind of stuff small enough to use in a practical passenger vehicle we'll be in business. But I don't expect the oil companies to ever let it happen.

AP

Its called Hemi, HD, 8.1 liter, H2, Escalade, Yukon, RAM, F250, Silverado... Funny how ten years ago 220 HP was a lot. Now its "insufficient". Tell me, just how much do those groceries and soccer balls weigh?? Do you really need 350+ HP on tap while parked in traffic? A Honda Civic sits motionless in traffic just as well as the tallest 4x4 you can find! Just goes to show how insecure so many people are, and how willing they are to spend the extra money for a little compensation. As for some folks that DO need a big truck (contractors, landscapers, 5th wheel pullers) if people bought what they needed and were not afraid of who might see them in a little car, then the national average MPG would go up and the fuel prices just might maintain a reasonable price.

I just love those "Gas out" days that went around a while back "dont buy gas on Wednesday!" um, ok, I will fill my 55 gallon gas tank on Tuesday then.. accomplishes nothing. getting RID of the gas guzzler as a daily driver, now that makes a difference. I bet my truck does about 2,000-3,000 miles a year... if that. Every time I stop by the gs station, that electric car looks better and better!! throw some solar pannels on the roof of the house, and Im set!

============ My original post (a few weeks ago was just because I could not believe these... wonderful... Hybrids were getting such poor (relative to their advertised ) fuel mileage...

Not surprised on the mileage your moms Civic got on the trip...

Hell my Corvette got 34 mpg on a 400 mile run down the interstate ..with the speed control set at 82 mph... no starting or stopping very little acceleration...pretty level terrain...

Still 30 percent less then your moms car...but it made me happy...

Bob....

============ Personally I would not feel insecure in a small car I just want a hell of a lot more horses under my right foot they offer...

The worlds major user of OIL happens to be China... and last I heard they are not a nation know for driving cars at all.. . IF Americans would drive cars that were higher in fuel efficiency I honestly do not know if it would really make a difference in the price of oil....on the world market.... It would help a little...but just how much?

Bob Griffiths

Why??? Smaller cars don't need lots of HP to kick the shit out of larger ones. Are you trying to compensate for something :-)

Really??? Where did you hear this? From what I have read, China is the fastest growing user of oil but we are still the largest and a fairly high percentage of it is used to produce fuel.

It would help in 3 ways.

1. It would reduce our dependency on foreign oil as well as lower the price.
2. It would reduce air pollution that we and our children have to breath in every day.
3. Even if the price of oil didn't drop by so much as 1 cent, we would still have more money in our pockets because we wouldn't need to buy any where near as much of it to live our lives and if it did, that's even more money.

from what i have read, you are right. however, the increasing demand for diesel fuel in the asian countries has put a strain on our supply and has had an impact on the rise of those prices.

Ah yes, but the beauty of diesel is ... you don't *have* to get it from crude oil. Check out:

Additionally, diesel trucks/cars are A LOT more fuel efficient. The Hybrid and upcoming hydrogen cars coupled with diesel WILL reduce our dependence in foriegn oil. It's just going to take a few years. I would guess the Middle East will start seeing drastic changes in US dependence within 5 years.

But then we, the US, will have to deal with the impact politically.

Craig C.

But before that happens, we the people of the US would have to be more willing to accept new technologies and do our part to help it along but as history shows, that doesn't happen here unless we are forced to do so and when the situation improves, we go directly back to our old ways.

Agreed, and you can include India and the Ukraine into that mix as well. The point is that this strain isn't going to go away and we have a choice to make. We can either do our part to help reduce the demand or not. Justifications to continue as we have sound good but mean nothing and will ultimately cost us big time.

People in general, not just Americans, are creatures of habit. In the broad sense, people hate change, especially when changing something that has been part of our lives for so long. A prime example, other than this situation, is TV. HDTV has been out for how long now? 5-10+ years to the mass market? Yet there are STILL people that won't hear of it. They would pay MORE for a standard TV ... which makes the broadcasters drag their feet as well ... the demand just isn't there for HD broadcasting.

(I just upgraded to a HDTV ... it rocks.)

We are beginning to be forced into change right now on oil dependency. The rising cost of crude oil will push that faster than any government mandate. I read last week that gasoline could go as high as $4.00 per gallon. I can guarantee that alternative energy will start rolling big time when/if that happens. Note: I do feel that our government should do more. For example, Bush should not have LOWERED the tax deduction for buying hybrid vehicles ... he should have raised it. In fact, he had/has the opportunity to give this technology a huge kick in the ass by offering larger tax incentives to the end consumer and to the manufacturer/distributor.

Craig C.

Why should this surprise you? If you actually read what was said, you would see that these cars were being driven in their worst possible way and under the worst conditions. If you operate them as they were intended, the mileage would get much closer to what they are advertized to be in many situations.

Yea, because you were driving it under ideal conditions and not the way it was intended to be driven. If you get on it (since it is a sports car) in the city, I bet that you get about half of that mileage.

I'm sure that it does but that is not realistic driving and I'll bet that a hybrid under those conditions (perhaps not that fast) would be getting closer to 60 MPG. You really need to compare apples to apples.

How exactly are the oil companies going to stop it?