Hybrid fizzle

World Mag Blog ^ | 30 Jun 04 | Dawson

[xzins]

Hybrid fizzle So pumped was Cincinnati resident Pete Blackshaw about getting his Civic hybrid, he gave the car a "MO MILES" vanity license plate. Blackshaw got the opposite. Instead of the advertised 47 mpg, Blackshaw gets about 32. The hybrid enthusiast turned critic blogged away his frustration with his underperforming gas-electric car. But it could be worse. Consumer Reports found most Civic hybrids get only about 26 mpg on average. Regular Civics usually score above 30 mpg.

According to a J.D. Power survey, hybrid car owners may not all be as discouraged as Blackshaw. The study revealed that more than wanting to save money at the pump, hybrid drivers want to save the world with their hands on the steering wheel.

The attitudes and opinions about economics, technology, and the environment held by owners of hybrid-electric cars distinguish them from the other groups. Issues on which the owners of hybrid-electric cars hold extreme positions are: interest in helping reduce vehicle pollution, willingness to pay extra for "green" products, and thinking of oneself as an avid recycler. Owners of hybrid-electric cars also have the most extreme expectations that fuel prices will be higher in the future.

[ReagansShinyHair]

The '87 Caprice with 4.3 six gets 26 highway, and accelerates from 50 to 100 about as quick as compact cars accelerate from 0 to 50. You have to cruise at 94 to get the best gas mileage.

I don't know anything about car engines, other than the general process of internal combustion and that the big metal thing itself is called a "block", and there's something called a carburator and it means you can't park in tall grass fields if you've got one. I'm guessing you're saying that a muscle-y car was getting 26 MPG? My poor little Civic. It had nice cupholders.

[RightWhale]

Yeah, it gets 26 and you can have a conversation at highway speeds. With the 24 gallon tank it goes about 600 miles between gas stations. Curb weight dry is 3200 lbs, which is fairly light for a full-size car. My SUV weighs 3600 pounds, gets 16, and goes 320 miles on a tank, but it's real quiet inside if the windows are fully up. The Caprice has more oomph, but it's no muscle car.

[RightWhale]

there's something called a carburator

There is no carburetor. It is fuel injected. Yes, a 4.3 L fuel-injected Caprice, top speed faster than some small planes fly, but most car engines are fuel-injected now.

[brianl703]

All car engines (in this country at least) since about 1990 are fuel injected.

Or did you mean to say that the number of cars with carbureted engines still on the road is dropping as time goes on?

[kpp_kpp]

nobody wants to drive around in a chiclet

I agree but the toyota echo only get 31/38 and the new chevy aveo "chicklet" is only rated for 27/35

I might be willing to commute back and forth to work in a "chicklet" that got 50 miles to the gallon (and inexpensive) - back in 82 that honda engine was uncomputerized with a carborator, and now with a similar size/priced car we are down to the upper 20s for gas mileage - somthing is amiss.

[jrawk]

OK, workable solution to supposed limited supplies of "fossil" hydrocarbons:

This plant renders turkey guts into crude and has been doing it at a profit for the last 4 months selling it for 10% less than foreign out of the ground supplies. Building 4 more plants as we speak.

http://www.changingworldtech.com/techfr.htm

(you can also search turkey guts to oil in google)

Done & Done!

Now that we have that taken care of, let's start working on a clean hydrocarbon economy, what do you say?

-- lates
-- jrawk

[brianl703]

Weight. Cars weigh more now than they used to.

A 1997 Ford Escort isn't much larger than a 1993 Ford Escort but it weighs almost 500lbs more.

I think that's due to the crash protection features mandated by the gov't.

[jrawk]

matter to oil (conversion 1)
oil to electricty (conversion 2)

extra steps
electricty to chemical potential (conversion 3)
chemical back to electrical (conversion 4)

different step
electrical to kinetic (conversion 5)

Don't underestimate the loss in converting electric to chemical and back, or the energy needed to produce all those batteries, and then dispose of them. I can't wait to hear about the "battery" problem all these hybrids will be causing in about 3 years.

-- lates
-- jrawk

[kpp_kpp]

I suppose that makes sense.

So all the the technological advancements over the past 20 or so years have been unable to keep up with government regulations...

Best gas mileage by year (non hybrid:
'85 Civic HF: 49/54 http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/noframes/18.shtml
'04 Civic: 36/44 http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/noframes/19586.shtml

Hybrid:
'04 Civic: 46/51 http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/noframes/19591.shtml
-- it doesn't even keep up with the '85 and outputs more greenhouse gasses.

[jrawk]

Perfect list you Rock!

Now how many of those can be solved while riding cheap hydrocarbon energy for the next 50 years?

How many of those will get solved if we saddle ourselves with the burden of overtaxed, overregulated energy in the false name of the environment?

The best thing we can do to mitigate the damages of our current energy economy for our grandchildren is to drill ANWR and ensure cheap oil based energy. We need to ensure the resources are free and available to explore and develop alternative solutions. Cripple ourselves and we will find ourselves in the intellectual debt that eventually brought down the Soviet Union and many others in history. In order to take the "next step" we need the energy and free time to take it.

-- lates
-- jrawk

[wjcsux]

I much prefer something that uses gasoline like it is being pumped through a fire hose.

[Keith]

I don't know what this guy is doing....hotrodding? Avging 44, getting 46 on current tank...How you drive does make a difference, but sheesh, it works for me.

BTW, when comparing to old civics, I remember those things...soda cans on wheels. This thing almost qualifies as a mid-size. Different animal...

[reagan_fanatic]

hybrid drivers want to save the world with their hands on the steering wheel

It could be worse. You could have bought a Honda Element or Pontiac Aztec. Bleeecchhh!

[xzins]

Call me crazy but my favorite is my 33 hp New Holland. I can bushhog all day on a single tank of diesel. It can sit unattended in shade, shine, or shnow and once the glowplug light goes out, it'll kick right over.

So...there ya go.

[DustyMoment]

I hope energy conservation succeeds, too.

Allow me to be politically incorrect and say "Screw energy conservation". Since just after WWI, the oil companies have played the energy shortage game about every 20 years in order to raise prices. With the rise of OPEC, it is clear that the oil ministers at OPEC learned their lessons from the American oil companies well.

[xzins]

I hope energy CONSERVATION succeeds, too.

Guess you can just call me a CONSERVATIVE.

:>)

[Colorado Doug]

I have yet to have someone explain to me if a hybrid uses that same heating cooling circuits as a normal car. An "optimized" engine will take that much longer to reach a point of having excess heat before it can start heating the passenger compartment. Using electric heater bands would be a fire hazard and drain the battery that much faster.

Resistive heating is not very efficient. Perhaps reversing the air conditioner and operating it like a heat pump might work good.

[bert]

Yea....and a sail.

I recently ran a few miles with a Prius and he was easily doing 85 up hill. He finally got tired of me gawking at him and accellerated away...90 or 95 at least.

[ReagansShinyHair]

There is no carburetor. It is fuel injected.

I think it's pretty good that I knew a car has one or the other, but not both. I don't know what each car has. *L*