Quote:
|
Originally Posted by AshenGrey
A few observations:
1. Why is the hybrid improvement so modest? HSD yeilds a 60-80% improvement and IMA is good for a 35-50% boost in fuel efficiency.
2. What is the FE of the base product? 25% more mileage is a *huge* number when the base product gets 30-40 MPG, but a Durango get about 4-6 MPG? That would mean an improvement of 1-2 MPG.
|
Lets say you have a hybrid that boots a vehicle's mileage from 50MPG to 62.5 MPG (25% gain). To travel 100 miles, your fuel consumption has dropped from 2 gallons to 1.6 gallons. You saved .4 gallons.
Now, let's say you have an SUV that gets 10MPG, and that increases to 12.5 MPG. To travel 100 miles, that SUV has lowered its fuel consumption from 10 gallons to 8 gallons, a saving of 2 gallons. That is five times the fuel savings of the hybrid vehicle.
We would all love to have 50MPG SUVs on the road, but don't denigrate the impact of hybrid systems on the low end. THe bulk of fuel savings will come from raising the fuel economy of the worst offenders, rather than squeezing out a few more drops from already high mileage vehicles (given the same number of cars sold... of course, given the popularity of SUVs in this country right now, its even more important).