[pillbox_girl]

The 80 miles per gallon figure here obviously doesn't include the fuel used to generate the electricity used to precharge the batteries (not to mention overcome the line losses getting the electricity from the generator to the car). That energy has to come from somewhere, and as such, these mileage figures are just playing with numbers.

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

[Dutch Boy]

If the car relies on more batteries how does the design fit with RoHS regulations? I'm all for getting as much out of a fuel as possible but there are always trade offs. Gasoline is by far the cheapest fuel that is generally available anywhere you go.

IMHO all the fuel problems we have are man made obstacles. We limit refineries, exploration, drilling and place ridiculous mixture formulas regulations on the entire industry. Then the futures market runs wild with it driving the price up even more.

On the other hand, any alternative fuel that expends more energy to produce than the fuel it provides is destined to fail. It's like selling a product at a loss and claiming you will make it up in volume.

[Melas]

Well, then it's going to depend a bit on where you get your electricity. If for example, you're getting your juice from the Hoover Dam, then you're going to have to concede that the hybrid in question, while still using a good deal of energy is straining non-renewable resources to a much lesser degree.

The beauty of electricity is that we don't HAVE to burn fossil fuels to get it. The greenies just about ran nuclear out of business, but I think it's high time that we started building more nuclear reactors and freeing ourselves from consumable dependancy.

[Atlas Sneezed]

The 80 miles per gallon figure here obviously doesn't include the fuel used to generate the electricity used to precharge the batteries

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Bing! We have a winner!

By the logic of the headline, a golf cart gets infinity miles per gallon.