Some people still think hybrids are plugged in overnight, but there is another misunderstanding that is also significant.

The Fuel Economy display, while not an essential part of the hybrid, is nonetheless an important tool. Most conventional vehicles if they monitor fuel economy at all, don't do it as well as hybrid vehicles. I never had one before getting a hybrid and it changed my driving, even when driving agressively.

Monitoring fuel economy should not seem so strange since we already check our bank account balance, the electricity used during the month, phone calls made...

61.5mpg lifetime - 82mpg in recent months

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"fanatic" is what the lazy call the dedicated

That's a good point, I like that!
My previous MINI Cooper had a small single dot-matrix line display at the bottom of the rev gauge, and it could be set to display running avg consumption. A newer version could also display instantaneous mileage. Many beamers have instantaneous consumption gauges or readouts, but they are small and not very visible.
I think fuel economy gauges or displays should be made mandatory, afterall, nowadays one might argue that they are as important as the speedometer?

I think good fuel economy displays are like BAS (Autostop) - not an essential hybrid component, but a great fuel-saver that should be standard equipment in all vehicles.

If common place, a large segment of the population would probably be paying more attention to their driving like we do.

I'm picturing a Hummer forum with members bragging about who can peg down the FE indicator the most....there will always be a few perverse people out there.

61.5mpg lifetime - 82mpg in recent months

Best Run >
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"fanatic" is what the lazy call the dedicated

Ive been thinking about getting one of those aftermarket displays for the Accord that Ive seen linked up here. Seems they have alot of function. See what mpg Im truley getting compared the the gas guzzler wife.

shouldn't take a whole lot of work on their part

Best fill 66.7 MPG, best tank 801.5 miles


laurie, central minnesota

Yeah! They're better than not having them. But I am not convinced that either the average mpg or instantaneous mph are all that accurate. Reasonable approximations, yes, but not completely reliable.

The indicator on my FEH message center for instantaneous economy, for example, does not specify a base for comparison. When the bar is full, it looks like good economy. But then I ask myself, compared to what?

With this understanding, I do think they are an excellent aid to learning and to keeping good driving habits.

Also, how about an emissions readout? Some of us are more concerned with that than of mileage - although they should be intimately related.
___________________
06 FEH 2WD "Sainte Marie"

They call it P&G - Punch and Gun.

61.5mpg lifetime - 82mpg in recent months

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"fanatic" is what the lazy call the dedicated

i think more... or all ...vechiles should have a mpg display. i think people would drive so much better. i know it's helped me a lot.
the government could lower highway speed limits and instead of everyone being mad they'd be like "yes! better gas mileage" ...sure people tell them they'll get better mileage, but if they could see it for themselves instantly then they'd really know what a big difference it actually makes.

I'm afraid the last time we had a national 55mph speed limit there was a revolt.

I don't think the nation as a whole would hypermile, but if it was kept to a steady 65-70mph in a non-agressive manner, that would still save a lot of oil.

61.5mpg lifetime - 82mpg in recent months

Best Run >
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"fanatic" is what the lazy call the dedicated

Oh man. I don't know if I am capable of driving 70 mph. I think my foot would start to convulse.

60 .. maybe.

R2-E2, 2G Prius.
Highway/City/Husband/Wife MPG: 56.5, as of 12/2005, 26K miles

Jac Nasser, Ford President: "We are planning to launch a hybrid version of
this car [P2000] within this year [1998]. We will also make FCEV available in
2004."