Hybrid Drivers Provide Real-World Mileage Data

Jason Siegel writes "Hybrid cars seem like the answer to rising gas prices, increased pollution and growing dependence on foreign oil, yet EPA tests have failed to produce reliable mileage estimations for consumers. Dependable fuel economy figures are now available at GreenHybrid.com, where hybrid owners have logged over 5,000,000 miles of driving information in real-world conditions. Unlike government tests and individual accounts, the database analyzes thousands of actual experiences to provide true mileage statistics." Read on for the rest.

The hot-selling Toyota Prius averages 48 miles per gallon among over 150 cars from across the country, with most drivers achieving between 45 and 51. The V-6 Honda Accord Hybrid delivers 30 miles per gallon while Ford's Escape Hybrid SUV averages 28. All hybrid owners are encouraged to post their data for these and other cars on the Internet's largest hybrid mileage database.

Reliable fuel economy figures are increasingly important as consumers explore their options in an emerging hybrid car market. Hybrids, like the new Lexus RX 400h, pair combustion engines with electric motors that recharge while driving to improve gas efficiency. "Until lately," said GreenHybrid creator Jason Siegel, "consumers have associated hybrid vehicles with a small niche of fuel-conscious environmentalists, but today's hybrids offer the best combination of high performance, great mileage and luxury features of any cars on the market."

Comments

Accord hybrid

[damiam]

Before anyone gets confused, I just want to point out that the Accord hybrid is not supposed to be super-efficient like the Prius. It's the top-of-the-line Accord, and the hybrid power is mostly used to increase performance while retaining similar fuel economy to the slower models. It's quite zippy; IIRC it has better 0-60 times than a V6 Mustang.

Re:MPG science

[Hadlock]

Which is exactly why the speed limit when from 70 to 55 durring the oil crisis. Someone will correct me, but wind resistance is cubed every time you double your speed. Our old '84 caddilac with trip computer got 25mpg at 64mph, but got 17-19mpg at 70mph. Closer to 28mpg at 55mph.

GreenHybrid Server

[Anonymous Coward]

Really sorry, guys. Slashdot sent me so many referrals the whole server went down! I won't be able to get ahold of my host for 2 hours, so please sit tight. Very sorry.

Jason Siegel
GreenHybrid.com

Re:MPG science

[cornjchob]

I know I get much worse mileage driving at 80-90 than I do at 60-70.

That's because most transmissions in production cars have their highest geared tuned so that the engine's in its RPM sweet-spot around 60-70mph; after that, the amount of gas per RPM starts to increase considerably more.

I'm curious as to just how high the grandparent kept his RPMs when he got similiar gas mileage driving timidly and agressively. Also, where has anyone heard stopping slowly increases mileage? Maybe in a car with regenerative breaking, but certainly not in a good ol' ICE powered car. If your foot's not on the gas, only idle gas is going to the engine (unless the computer is doing something, but it shouldn't affect that much). Unless I'm missing something, I can't see how slowing down gradually will increase anything beside the frustration of the driver behind you because you're not getting to a stop light quicker :-P

Re:seems sort of a waste

[Leibel]

Quite agree. The Peugeot turbo diesel option (same Bosch direct injection technology) keeps setting world records. Their 307 just got 3.49 litres per 100km's (or 81.16 mpg in old money) according to this website. They averaged 1,700 Km per 60 litre tank! Why add all the complication of hybrid technology, or why not couple an engine like this with hybrid technology?

Re:MPG science

[aardvarkjoe]

You said:

It takes more energy to accelerate quicker than it does to accelerate slower.

As a blanket statement, this is false. Going from zero to sixty in ten seconds may end up requiring more work than doing the same in twenty seconds. However, depending on the engine, the gears, the wheels, the road, and all sorts of other factors, it may not. It's a complex problem that can't be solved via simple analysis.

Re:MPG science

[sumdumass]

I'm glad to notice you are considering wind resistance as well as the difference in stopm and go trafic verses continuous highway driving. The bigest factor in speed verses fuel usage would be resistance.

Wind resistance, starting to move resistance, going up hills resistance, and the difference the weight has on thse resistance play a crucial role in gas miliage. I have a van and with it fully loaded with camping and hunting gear i average around 1 or 2 miles per gallong less. A slight breeze will drop my miliage another 1 or so miles per gallon on the same 200 mile trip. If it is realy windy, i can expect a little more drop. Newer stream lined cars wouldn't see as dramitc effect as i do on the wind but might see more of an effect on the weight because thier engines typicaly are smaller. Going up some hills, I tend to pull away from other trafic even when pulling a boat or 4 wheelers. I can also get better miliage in town when my tanks are half full (less then 20 gallons compared to 45 gallons total full) with the same cargo. My overdrive in town causes me to use more gass too. I think it is because the high gearing requires more fuel to maintain the same power ratio to the ground.

On the same note, While in fith gear, if you are having to depress the excelorator more to maintain your speed then you would in fourth gear, you might actualy use more gass then if you increased the RPMS and ran at a lower gearing.

When i drove a class 8 tractor trailor the manufacturers of the engines (detroit deisel) gave us training on fuel econemy. Some basic bullet points were that the engines have a peak power to torque ratio were when the rpm making the most power croses the rpms making the most torque resulted in the best fuel econemy. The transmisions and rearends were geared with this in mind alng with the rated top speed. Granted with a deisel engine the RPMs were alot lower and basicaly limited to around 2200 - 2300. We usualy shifted and attempted to keep them around 1700-1800 rpms.

Without idle time (as you mentioned earlier) I could average about 8-9 miles per gallon running at gross (79-80,000 lb). This was up from 4.5 to 5 miles per gallon before we had our little talk. That was acording to the little engine computer read out on the dash. Durring real windy times i actualy get better miliage at slower speed but could run 70 - 80 mph most the time were the speed limit allwed. On a calm day the lower speed would be less then 1 half a mile per gallon because of the gearing. If you could place your car on a dino and check the torque and power rats, you might find an ideal range to drive long trips and realize a big fuel savings.

Another point was the electronic cruise control. Running with the cruise control allowed engines computer to caculate the exact amount of fuel needed to maintain speed were driving by foot would cause speed to fluctuate enough that the driver would over compensate the throttle and apply too much power to maintain speed. My buick's cruise control saves fuel on long trips much the same but my van's cruise is too old to have much difference (rebuilt and pumped '84 chevy 350). My semi truck would see around .5 to 1 mpg more fuels econemy then without using it. One mpg doesn't seem like much but it adds up. Especialy if you are getting lower mpg.