quote: It looks like a typical Toyota Prius hybrid, but in the trunk sits an 80-miles-per-gallon secret -- a stack of 18 brick-sized batteries that boosts the car's high mileage with an extra electrical charge so it can burn even less fuel.
Gremban, an electrical engineer and committed environmentalist, spent several months and $3,000 tinkering with his car.
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
quote: DaimlerChrysler spokesman Nick Cappa said plug-in hybrids are ideal for companies with fleets of vehicles that can be recharged at a central location at night. He declined to name the companies buying the vehicles and said he did not know the vehicles' mileage or cost, or when they would be available.
Others are modifying hybrids, too.
Monrovia-based Energy CS has converted two Priuses to get up to 230 mpg by using powerful lithium ion batteries. It is forming a new company, EDrive Systems, that will convert hybrids to plug-ins for about $12,000 starting next year, company vice president Greg Hanssen said.
University of California, Davis, engineering professor Andy Frank built a plug-in hybrid from the ground up in 1972 and has since built seven others, one of which gets up to 250 mpg. They were converted from non-hybrids, including a Ford Taurus and Chevrolet Suburban.
Frank has spent $150,000 to $250,000 in research costs on each car, but believes automakers could mass-produce them by adding just $6,000 to each vehicle's price tag
Yet more expensive, but still, 250 miles per gallon is like a 1,000% more than I currently get in my Ford Focus. If I could literally go 2,500 miles on a tank of gas, I wouldn't have a problem paying an extra 6,000 for a car, especially if there was a tax rebate on it. I have about 25,000 miles on my car right now. Were this plan to work, I could have driven the last three years on ten tanks of gas.
Granted, that's probably far fetched, even the thought of filling up once a month has me interested. Especially since gas went up 20 cents last night, to 2.76 per gallon.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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I'd probably be drooling if I drove more. As it is, I drive a good fuel-efficient car (getting greater than 30 MPG), and I use little gas (what with the little amount of driving I do). I'm content with that.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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So it looks better. But you still have to generate the electricity and deal with transmission and storage losses. It isn't necessarily any more efficient or any more environmentally-friendly simply by virtue of being "plug-in."
Finally, mpg ratings are obtained by testing under very specific and controlled conditions, which is why cars don't tend to actually make their mpg ratings once you drive them off the lot.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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The energy that would be used to power the batteries can be produced through renewable sources though, and "Clean" coal fired plants powering plug in hybrids is still many magnitudes cleaner than the thousands of gallons of oil that would be burned in its place.
Further, hybrids actually meet their MPG ratings more often than regular gas powered cars, because braking and starting up too fast is what costs you a lot of your fuel efficiency, along with other things like not having your tires at the optimal pressure. Since braking actually powers the car, and it takes off electrically, these things don't harm the fuel efficiency.
Either way, I think most would agree that this car is more of a city bound, rather than a rural car. But even if people just in major population centers, and vans used for shipping switched over to plug in hybrids, the amount of oil used in America would be vastly reduced.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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twinky: That's what I thought. Are mpg ratings really that inaccurate, though? My car is rated at 30 mpg on the highway, and I frequently get better mileage than that.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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What I don't get is why the hybrids are raising such a stir when Honda used its VTEC technology to make a really efficient standard gas engine a while back. The Early 90's Honda Civic VX was rated something like mid 40's city and mid 50's highway MPG. I'm sure it burned rather cleanly, too (as many well tuned smaller cars do). I found that the toyota prius matched the city mileage and got significantly worse highway mileage (I got 44 MPG in the one I was driving)... and the Civic VX didn't cost near what an Insight or Prius does, and had about as much usable space as the Prius (IIRC).
BTW, if anyone knows where I can find one for sale... I am in the market Posts: 3846 | Registered: Apr 2004
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The EPA test drives cars to evaluate their mileage ratings. The conditions that twinky mentioned are, specifically, they test drive at 55 mph, with the A/C off and the radio off. For city, they accelerate modestly, with little stop and go traffic.
That's why mileage and usage may vary. I'm in Louisiana, I use my air conditioner whenever I drive anywhere, roughly about 51 weeks a year.
Hybrids actually are worse at living up to their ratings because those accessories are a big drain on the battery, which is charged by the engine.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Either way, I think most would agree that this car is more of a city bound, rather than a rural car. But even if people just in major population centers, and vans used for shipping switched over to plug in hybrids, the amount of oil used in America would be vastly reduced.
Absolutely. I just don't think I'm quite ready to start drooling yet. Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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"Hybrids actually are worse at living up to their ratings because those accessories are a big drain on the battery, which is charged by the engine. "
Yes, but the battery is being constantly recharged, also by regenerative braking, which is usually considered a drain on the mileage of a car, but the opposite is true on a Hybrid.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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That's true, most hybrids do recoup some energy through coasting and braking, but I think you overestimate how much energy.
The electrical system has been, and will continue to be charged by the alternator (hence, the engine). That was a major factor when I was looking at hybrids, because I saw in a lot of my reading that people weren't getting the mileage they were supposed to be getting. They were getting, like, half. The reasons I listed were a big part of that. Riding around with the a/c and radio going, especially if you're on the highway, can really drop your hybrid's efficiency.
EDIT: See here for more info on actual hybrid performance and EPA mileage testing.
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