Tim Blair

Hey! A picture!

In more relevant comments: my dad just got a Prius. I look forward to hearing his comments on it. If he likes it, that'll mean something: We're talking about a man who borrows my manual-transmission Nissan at every opportunity (my mom made him get automatic and he hates it).

I was wondering when we would hear about the Prius from you. I thought I must have missed it.

The last time I did a back-of-the-envelope calculation, even with the current higher gas prices , the gas you save does not pay for the difference in price of the car itself, even if you drive it for ten years. I'm not sure my calulations were correct, though. It's an important issue for me, because I will soon be on the market.

My guess is, I will wind up buying one last "regular" car (crossing my fingers that pipelines in Saudi Arabia don't get blown up) and by the time it needs replacing, the hybrids will have come down in price enough to be worth it.

So, that calculation is important to me. Oh, and if the hybrids just suck to drive, that would be a factor, too.

I wonder why they didn't report the reading when said Excursion was going down the same hill.

Some vehicles shut off the fuel supply when they're engine braking. During that time, the mpg is infinite....

Of course hybrid engines use less fuel when the electric motor's running, but the electricity to charge the batteries has to be factored into the fuel consumption tally. Hybrids exchange burning petrol in the car to burning something else in the power station.

David - Not the Prius, you don't plug it in. The batteries are charged by the engine. But your point is well taken for purely electric cars.

Ash - If you're in the States you get a pretty hefty tax rebate for buying one, so take that into account.

Tim,

I can't see how you would get better city mileage than hwy, unless you failed to factor into account the charge that was already in your battery before you began your test.

Right? Technically, if the battery is charged you could drive on just that till it runs down, then end your test, having achieved a measured gas efficiency of infinity mpg.

David, Matt Moore is right.

Actually, it's a little cooler than the way hes quickly describes it. Some of the kinetic energy you lose when stopping generates electricity that is channeled into the battery, energy that later is used to help get you going again.

Recovering any amount of the kinetic energy that is just thrown away during braking represents the fruition of dreams of nerds in high school physics classes since the 1980's, if not before. So, even if, in practice, hybrids aren't that great (yet?), they still have that neat trick going for them.

ras:

I think you're still not getting it. You don't plug in a Prius to charge the battery. Hitting the brakes charges the battery.

It's called regenerative braking, and there is a good description here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regenerative_braking

I still want a 15mpg (highway) CL600. Until the CL65 comes out.

Maybe I can get it tuned for less efficiency.

God! Another car thread.
Sounds like a bunch of office-workers trying to out-macho each other around the water-cooler

Are hybrids considered "macho"? I guess the jury may be still out on that, but somehow I doubt it. They will probably seem at least a little dweebish for the time being, if only because of how they look.

I think one of the main incentives in Virginia is that you can drive a hybrid in the HOV lanes without a passenger. In northern Virginia that's a Hell of an incentive.

But here's the kicker, you must have "special Virginia clean special fuel license plates," which effectively means that your car must be registered in the state of Virginia. Marylanders and Washingtonians need not apply.

..the gas you save does not pay for the difference in price of the car itself, even if you drive it for ten years...

..and that's all we need to know. Prius, R.I.P.

The man can write.

Yea nice para. But isn't there a rule about beginning a sentence with a conjunction?

crossing my fingers that pipelines in Saudi Arabia don't get blown up

Would that be a bad thing?

Q Isn’t a shift to more economical vehicles merely prolonging our dependence on Saudi oil henchmen and their enablers in the evil Bush administration?

Do I detect a note of sarcasm about criticism of Saudi Arabia?

On my dad's Verada it can measure instantaneous fuel consumption on the trip computer. If I plant my foot I can get that baby up to 75l per 100km. Top that.

What's up with Bulletin website anyway. All content is basically stuffed unless you're a subscriber. Pisses me off.

Ash:

What I think ras means is that the engine charges the battery. IF you start with a charged battery, you need to take into account the gas that was expended to charge it in the first place.

In driving around town, can the engine keep the charge up? Or does the battery slowly drain? If the former, the in-town MPG is right. If the latter, then try 200 miles of constant stop-and-go driving (say, drive from San Diego to Ventura on a Friday) and see if the MPG drops.

> IF you start with a charged battery, you need to take into account the gas that was expended to charge it in the first place.

Only if you also take into account the potential energy associated with altitude, as in "some of the gas you use going uphill is gas that you save going downhill".