Tweaked hybrid gets 80 miles per gallon

LA Daily News ^ | 8/14/05 | Tim Molloy

[Rate_Determining_Step]

> But Toyota Motor Corp. officials who initially frowned on people altering their cars now say they may be able to learn from them.

Toyota has historically been hysterical about anybody making any modifications to their cars. They officially recommend against adding/upgrading to an aftermarket stereo. They're that bad.

Toyota does not recommend modifying our vehicles from their original factory specifications. This includes replacing the original stereo equipment with other than what was originally designed for use in your vehicle. Modifications could affect the vehicle’s performance, safety or durability. In addition, damage or performance problems resulting from the modification may not be covered under warranty. For this reason, we do not distribute information or specifications regarding the installation or compatibility of non-Toyota audio systems. For complete details of Toyota's warranties, please refer to your Owner's Warranty Information booklet.

[Melas]

45mph is a bit underpowered, I agree. However, I'm not one of those guys who even weighs horsepower as a factor when buying a new car. I usually choose the smallest American car I can find. Truth to tell, I don't even like my car, but drive it out of necessity. I'd much rather be on one of my bicycles or my Harley. I guess I'm a two-wheel guy.

[John Jamieson]

Sorry, all of Hoover Dam's electricity is already being used!

Silly!

[TexasTransplant]

>>>"Give it a few posts and you'll find that some freepers have an irrational hatred of anything that improves fuel economy"<<<

If it improves efficiency I am all for it, this modified hybrid is no different than adding Ethanol to Gasoline, it uses more Energy to do what we are already doing with a straight Gasoline IC Engine.

[DB]

Well this is just plain wrong.

Yes, he's using less gasoline but he's replacing that gas savings with increased electricity usage. Nowhere did he pick up any efficiency. I.E. using less energy to go from point A to point B.

The electrical generation system in this country, particularly California is already overtaxed. Electricity generation has to use fuel of some sort too. We've been moving towards using natural gas to generate electricity and that's why natural gas has become so expensive. There isn't enough natural gas to power all the cars here (there have been shortages already).

The "engineer" in this article has only transfered his energy needs to someone else. Dumb.

The only way this would actually help is if we start building many more large nuclear power plants. Only then could we reduce our energy dependence from overseas. Otherwise he's simply transfered his gasoline energy needs to natural gas, oil and coal. And San Francisco is the same place that refuses to allow building of any new power plants near by...

[SampleMan]

Maximum theoretical mileage for any given car should be mathematically extrapolated by taking the total energy of a gallon of gasoline, subtracting startup energy for the given weight, and then dividing by the resistance of that particular vehicle (mechanical and airflow). This would assume 100% transfer of energy.

However, I've never seen this number for any car. Has anyone else?

[PeteB570]

All car companies are the same way. Thank the lawyers. If there is an accident, fire, whatever the first step is to blame the car company and go after them for the big bucks.

Still have my K-10 with the duel fuel tanks outside the frame. Piss pour paint job (undercoating failure) but it runs (about 12 mpg).

Drive the Saturn (38 mpg) most of the time.

[Balding_Eagle]

The extra batteries let him store extra power by plugging the car into a wall outlet at his home in this San Francisco suburb all for about a quarter.

At 8 cents a KWH that's 3 KWH of power stored.

If the rest of his calculations are this dishonest..................

[Melas]

I'm on my 3rd Sportster, and I still think the motor company is lying through it's teeth when it quotes those mileage figures. When my present ride was a bone stock 883, I was getting about 50mpg highway. I then did the Stage 1 mods and my mileage dropped to about 45. Since then I've gone with 1200cc jugs, reverse dome pistons, and the SE Race ignition. My mileage now varies between 35mpg and 40mpg depending on how heavy I am with the throttle.

FYI, I'd dispute the statement that the Sportster isn't the best Harley. It's not the most expensive, but it's by far the most trouble free engine HD has ever produced. If you can live with the power of the 883 (I couldn't) you have the single most reliable engine HD has ever produced because every part is engineered for the 1200.

[Melas]

lol, now that was funny.

[SampleMan]

Well this is just plain wrong.

Exactly!

My Suburban gets great mileage on the downslope of mountains. So to radically increase gas mileage, I simply start all my trips from the top of a mountain. Sort of the opposite of when I was a kid and had to walk up hill to school both ways.

[Melas]

Electricty has the possibilty of being generated by renewable resources. Skipping the pie in the sky promises of wind and solar, hydrogenerators and nuclear reactors are realites that produce enormous amounts of energy.

[doodad]

More power to you, I like bikers. I drive a 400 hp Camaro and just laugh at these toys.

[libstripper]

Like all hybrids, his Prius increases fuel efficiency by harnessing small amounts of electricity generated during braking and coasting. The extra batteries let him store extra power by plugging the car into a wall outlet at his home in this San Francisco suburb all for about a quarter.

He's part of a small but growing movement. "Plug-in" hybrids aren't yet cost-efficient, but some of the dozen known experimental models have gotten up to 250 mpg.

This is the rubber check and $3.00 bill part of the story. If he has to plug the car into the wall to charge his extra batteries, then he's not really getting the great gas mileage he says he is. Instead he's doing the classically inefficient thing of using burning coal to produce electricity that has to be transmitted over power lines, transformed, and then used to charge his batteries. Hence, his "clean" car probably uses more actual BTUs of fossil power, and generates more carbon dioxide, than a standard Prius would. Any electric car is an emmission mover, not an emission eliminator, since it just moves the point of emission from where it's being driven to the power plant that generates its electricity.

[libstripper]

Going nuclear would greatly alter my position, which is similar to hers. Absent that act of saninty, electric cars will be and remain emission movers, not emission eliminators.

[DB]

It is easy to make cars get better mileage.

Just make them lighter and/or smaller.

Of course, making them lighter and/or smaller also increases the chances of you dying if you get into a crash...

Americans are more and more demanding safety. That generally comes at the expense of weight.

A gallon of gas contains only so much energy. It takes so much energy to move mass X up hill Y or accelerate at rate Z. It isn't rocket science. One can track where the energy goes at each step of the way. It isn't like it's being lost in some engineered black hole...

And I assume you know that a British gallon is about 20% larger in volume than a US gallon. Australia likely uses British gallons.

[TheDon]

The extra batteries let him store extra power by plugging the car into a wall outlet at his home in this San Francisco suburb all for about a quarter.

I imagine an electric vehicle gets an infinite amount of mpg.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I bet those $3000 of extra batteries start to lose charging capacity from Day One, and then in a couple of years you have the very environmentally friendly act of disposing of those lead and acid batteries.

Everybody knows lead and sulfuric acid are good for the environment.

[DB]

Here in California power is more like 14 cents a kW (at or below "lifeline" limits and goes up drastically from there. You would have to live in a small apartment not to exceed the lifeline allowances...

[John Jamieson]

Best small cars require about 10 horsepower to go 60 mph.

1 hp/hr = 2547 BTUs

10 Hp for one hour requires 25,470 BTU's

Gasoline contains 114,000 BTUs per gallon

10 Hp requires .223 gallons per hour at 100% eff

car goes 60 miles on .223 gal or about 268 miles per gallon.

If car does 53 mpg it is 20% eff at converting heat to power. Not bad for portable, lightweight engine.