Man, you must have been out the last two days. We drove this one all over the block. Some posters even got a bit testy.
I think I'm supposed to say somethign sarcastic here, but hey, if a car get get better gas mileage, I'm all for it.
With oil prices over $65 per barrel, every increase in mpg can result in big savings.
Give it a few posts and you'll find that some freepers have an irrational hatred of anything that improves fuel economy.
By the logic of this article, my own car can get a million miles per gallon if I start at the top of a hill and coast down without turning over the engine and then only count the mileage while coasting. But what about the energy to get the car to the top of the hill in the first place? It's the same as the energy needed to precharge the batteries in these "high mileage" plug in hybrids.
TANSTAAFL
Yesterday the AP had it at 250.
Must be some tweak.
The big question would be things such as top speed on road trips, climbing hills and endurance. A former professor of mine spent time posted in New Zealand during the energy crisis of the 1970's. He said the local cars (all imports, about 50% of them American) all averaged 10 mpg or better than their counterparts in America simply because the motoring public demaded it and because the competition from the Japanese was keen.
This was at the same time the American car manufacturing industry claimed said mpg ratings were technically impossible to acheive.
What separates me from a lot of conservatives is that I think government does have a check and balance role to play in fostering competition and encouraging corporate responsibility. The trouble comes not because government has or should have no role, but because the role they play is often to do exactly the opposite.
Democrats are fond about speaking about corporate greed and irresponsibility-- but some of the greediest and most irresponsible activty took place under Clinton when national security was sacraficed on the altar of free trade (or to boost campaign contributions from the ChiComs).
I'd also rate Teddy Roosevelt as one of our ten best presidents because he was the first to use the power of government to curb the monopolistic predatory excesses of industries such as Standard Oil and meat processing.
Unlike morons like Pat Murray and Barbara Boxer who clog the hall of congress today, those in TR's time actually had some understanding of the way business worked and could play a role in minimalist regulation and guidance. Malcolm Baldridge, Commerce Secretary under Reagan, certainly provided some leadership in the right direction with the carrot approach. I beleive proper leadership could do the same in fostering a reduction of energy consumption through improvements in mpg technology.
A stone stock Harley Sportster gets 60 mpg, will run rings around most cars, parks anywhere, turns around in a 1 lane road without touching the ground, turns the head of any red blooded American, and will still be lusted after when it's 10 years old....and they've been making the Sportster since 1957, and it's not even the best Harley.
At 8 cents a KWH that's 3 KWH of power stored.
If the rest of his calculations are this dishonest..................
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.
I imagine an electric vehicle gets an infinite amount of mpg.
Everybody knows lead and sulfuric acid are good for the environment.
Make a hybrid that doesnt look like a little toy and you have me and untold millions of others sold
This would be great if it weren't for the fact that it plugs into the wall at night. The electricity that's charging those extra batteries has to come from somewhere. It's getting the standard Prius 50 mpg from the gasoline, and any extra mileage is coming from a power plant. Calling it 80 mpg is misleading.
I have an idea........
Instead of everyone poo-pooing and pontificating, fluffing themselves up and trying to show everyone here how incredibly intelligent they are (just ask them).....
...get off your butts and invent something that works. After all, since there are so many "experts" here who can beat the dead horse of why it won't work, and why we're stupid for buying into someone actually trying something different - surely your incredible intellects (especially collectively) can come up with something better.
Unless it's all a bunch of hot air........?
18 brick sized batteries. What is in batteries? Heavy metals like lead, zinc, lithium, and acid. Where do heavy metals come from? Strip mining! Stupid freaking environmentalist always think they can get something for nothing. Hybrid technology is great but you don't get something for nothing, ever, period.
When they come out with a nice sized powerful 4x4 then I will jump on board. Until then I just have to deal with my 350 GMC Sierra. You do what you gotta do.
When they finally build a hybrid with a V-8 Hemi, than maybe I'll reconsider.