Hybrid cars?

[mietla]

Originally posted by Chairboy
Well, I have no emotional involvement in the subject, just passing along the rationale.

I live in SoCal, and I have no problems with traffic.  It might be because I ride my motorcycle.


.....in the carpool lane.

my point exactly. Did you replace your car with a bike just to take advantage of a carpol lane? I doubt it.

You just got a freebe. Just like all parents who drive their kids to school. And your convenience cames at the expense of the rest of people and a much higher pollution.

[lazs2]

"Yeah? Does that mean America is about to launch a new generation of crappy plastic cars, and little sawn off Cadillacs? Hilarious in pink... "

nope... the 21st century versions of em tho... electric and hybrid pooches that break down in big expensive ways...   good thing is tho that the resultant glut of fuel and cheap supercar prices will suit us retro men.

lazs

[Creamo]

Originally posted by mietla
Exactly, the whole idea is absurd (government at work), as you just illustrated.

Look at it as the alien would. Those earthlings are really weird. When the tarffic is light, they open full capacity of the highway, but as soon as the rush hour approaches, they restrict the overall throughput by 25%. One 33% lane conducts 5% of the load.

And what do all those cars in non-carpool lanes do? Yes, they do produce pollution. Instead of spending 30 minutes driving home, they spend an hour. Not quite a double pollution, but obviously more than if there could use full highway capacity.

I'm not even talking about all the accidend cause by the 40-50 mph speed differencial between carpool and non-carpool lanes and the cross-lane trafiic they produce when carpoolers are trying to get into the carpool lane or leave it.

And don;t even try to convince me that people are actually carpoolong with strangers just to take advantage of the carpool lane. I bet that 90 % or carpoolers just happen to have more than one person, carpool lanes or not.

Well, I don't have to worry about that here, but in CA it did just seem insane. I never thought about it that way. Had I, I would have been twice as pissed.

Ignorance is bliss.

[Scootter]

This is what you will see more of, I have 2800 miles on mine and get over 17 mpg with a 7300 lb 4X4 with auto and air on ice cold, and this is overall mpg, highway I get about 20.

Oh and I can pull over 15000 lbs with no problem.



http://www.cummins.com/na/pages/en/products/dodgeram/cummins24vturbodiesel.cfm

PS
Edge has a chip out to raise HP to over 425 hp for around 800 bills.

[Halo]

I'm glad to see progress on alternatives to fossil fuel but deplore the politically screwed up incentive of allowing hybrids with only one person to use high occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV purpose is to reduce the number of vehicles on the road regardless of their propulsion systems).  

On the bizarre side, will be interesting to see the new Mercedes marble hybrids take on the SUVs.  Like wheel bearings challenging wheels.

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by Scootter
This is what you will see more of, I have 2800 miles on mine and get over 17 mpg with a 7300 lb 4X4 with auto and air on ice cold, and this is overall mpg, highway I get about 20.

Oh and I can pull over 15000 lbs with no problem.



http://www.cummins.com/na/pages/en/products/dodgeram/cummins24vturbodiesel.cfm

PS
Edge has a chip out to raise HP to over 425 hp for around 800 bills.

My father has the same truck, he's getting in real life, about 11 mpg city, 14 freeway, pulling a 28 ft. trailer.

[Gyro/T69]

Hybrid Mileage Comes Up Short  


Hybrid cars are hot, but not as hot as their owners, who complain that their gas mileage hasn't come close to well-advertised estimates

http://www.wired.com/news/autotech/0,2554,63413,00.html

[type_char]

We got turkey oil OTW. Its all good.

[strk]

Originally posted by mietla
Exactly, the whole idea is absurd (government at work), as you just illustrated.

Look at it as the alien would. Those earthlings are really weird. When the tarffic is light, they open full capacity of the highway, but as soon as the rush hour approaches, they restrict the overall throughput by 25%. One 33% lane conducts 5% of the load.

And what do all those cars in non-carpool lanes do? Yes, they do produce pollution. Instead of spending 30 minutes driving home, they spend an hour. Not quite a double pollution, but obviously more than if there could use full highway capacity.

I'm not even talking about all the accidend cause by the 40-50 mph speed differencial between carpool and non-carpool lanes and the cross-lane trafiic they produce when carpoolers are trying to get into the carpool lane or leave it.

And don;t even try to convince me that people are actually carpoolong with strangers just to take advantage of the carpool lane. I bet that 90 % or carpoolers just happen to have more than one person, carpool lanes or not.

check out the HOV lanes on 95 in Northern Virginia during rush hour and you wil see why they are necessary.  Also the HOV lanes go in one direction in the morning - into the city - and in the other in the afternoon

re: carpooling with strangers - it happens in DC every day - its called "slugging" and there are slug lines at various places in the city, especially at the pentagon.  The idea is you get on the slug line, drivers needing 1 or 2 passengers for the HOV lanes will pull up like a taxi stand.  The line moves quick.  I have slugged rides and I have one friend who is a USAF major who has slugged every day for over 8 years.  

http://www.slug-lines.com/Slugging/About_slugging.asp

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=slugging+pentagon&spell=1

[Chairboy]

Originally posted by mietla
my point exactly. Did you replace your car with a bike just to take advantage of a carpol lane? I doubt it.

Actually, yes.  I did.  But I understand that your mind is made up.

[Chairboy]

Originally posted by Gyro/T69
Hybrid Mileage Comes Up Short  


Hybrid cars are hot, but not as hot as their owners, who complain that their gas mileage hasn't come close to well-advertised estimates

http://www.wired.com/news/autotech/0,2554,63413,00.html

NEWS FLASH: Driving your hybrid like a race car may result in poor mileage.

I have two friends w/ Hybrids, and they say that you really need to drive like a maniac to get sub-40 mpg.  Most of the letters to the editor over the next couple days after that wired article was published said the same thing.

[Gyro/T69]

You might get your friends to write Mr. Blackshaw at his blog, cause he ain't convinced.

http://hybridbuzz.blogspot.com/

[SKurj]

I was starting to think that a hybrid might be a good choice for myself.

I commute about 150kms(thats total both ways) to work everyday, and often have to use my car to go to customer sites in and around the city.  That was until I found that unless all you do is drive around the city at quite low speeds, you may as well drive a non-hybrid.

If I was doing 75kms a day or more just to customer sites (city hospitals) then I would consider it.

I get paid mileage and not much (.35/km) so would like to reduce my travel costs as much as possible.   Probably just end up buying something like an Echo.  My 91 corolla right now will do over 650kms on a tank of gas now (50L).  Shame it costs over $35 to fill it.   Heh I know thats nothing compared to some of you driving pickups.


SKurj

[SKurj]

Originally posted by Gyro/T69
Hybrid Mileage Comes Up Short  


Hybrid cars are hot, but not as hot as their owners, who complain that their gas mileage hasn't come close to well-advertised estimates

http://www.wired.com/news/autotech/0,2554,63413,00.html

Problem here is... this statement pretty much applies to any vehicle you buy.   The methods used to arrive at the advertised mileage figures are absolute ideals which almost none of us will ever duplicate.

There is an exception that comes to mind though.  I recently read a newspaper review of the Ford SUV hybrid, and the author matched the mileage figures(35mpg).  He found the Ford reps weren't too happy with him for not trying to improve his mileage.
Some of the other journalists were driving around at 40kms trying to see how high they could get the mileage, I think they got as high as 44mpg.    

The best benefits from hybrids come in city traffic, when your going so slow the electric is doing most of the work.


SKurj