Who Evacuated in Their Hybrid? - GreenHybrid

Jason · #1 (**permalink**) 09-27-2005, 11:28 AM

I was lucky enough to find a flight out of Houston before Rita hit (or didn't hit, rather). Did any of you evacuate in your hybrids? If so, what was your experience?

Jason · #2 (**permalink**) 09-27-2005, 11:36 AM

After browsing around a bit, I see there are a couple related threads:
http://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/r...uees.3841.html
http://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/we-re-gone.3748.html

rigger · #3 (**permalink**) 09-27-2005, 11:43 AM

I have evacuated several times before in my hybrid. Of course when it came to getting to a gridlocked area I was lucky enough to swing a Ueeee and cut back to a crossover, went the other direction hit the GPS and found an alternate back road route to my destination. This only happened once last year after Hurricane Ivan. The other times I just went straight to the back roads knowing the main roads would be clogged with cars.

billyt1963 · #4 (**permalink**) 09-27-2005, 05:30 PM

Say it isn't so. The GreenHybrid creator left his hybrid in Houston to face a hurricane alone

.

Seriously, I hope you were (are) OK. I was wondering if you got out of town or just hunkered down.

Billy

MGBGT · #5 (**permalink**) 09-29-2005, 01:38 PM

I evacuated in my Prius II and just returned to Galveston, after turning the evacuation into a mini-vacation of 2,250 miles.

I was actually in Alaska (work related) and on short notice flew back to Texas last Monday night, arriving in Galveston Tuesday morning. Prepared my lab at the U all day, the home at night, and my wife and I left with our cat Wednesday morning 4 am. Good thing we left that early as we avoided the evacuation insanity. Went as far as Albuquerque, and got back last night. 2,240 miles round trip. Had lots of fun, and luckily house and lab are fine, and we have electricity!
Over the course of the drive I managed to average 53.2 mpg with a completely loaded car, AC on all the time, and driving an average speed between 60 and 73 miles per hour.
Interestingly, in New Mexico I got susbtantially better mileage than in Texas, very noticeably. While driving in NM, my average mileage was 62 mpg. In Texas it was my usual low 45-49, which resulted in the overall average of over 50 for this trip.
No idea why the NM mileage was so much better, driving in NM was at an average elevation of about 5,5-6,000 ft, temperatures in the 80's and fairly dry. TX on the other hand elevation was below 3,000 ft (and past the hill country at near sea level), temperature in the upper 90's (and in fact peaking at 103), and humidity in the 90's as well.
Overall, I'm so glad we bought the Prius!
Hope all the rest of you along the Gulf Coast are doing ok!
M

Tim · #6 (**permalink**) 09-29-2005, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billyt1963

Say it isn't so. The GreenHybrid creator left his hybrid in Houston to face a hurricane alone

.

Maybe we need a congressional hearing on implementing federal assistance so owners can evacuate with their hybrids and not be forced to abandon them....

If we're including pets, clearly our beloved hybrids should be on the list too....

texashchman · #7 (**permalink**) 09-29-2005, 02:04 PM

I left in my HCH but really just went about 60 miles to in-laws. Had traffic going northbound and southbound going to the Valley.Afterwards my wife and I took it to look at some land "up the country"(getting tired of living along the coast here) yesterday and put on about 250 miles. It's showing 50.7 mpg which means about 48 mpg at the pump. Drove with a/c on and 65- 70 miles per hour which I usually don't do so I was *****ing about the milage but my wife was saying"yes but it's better than the Tahoe!Kevin

p.s. we found some land!!! yipeee...l

BIF · #8 (**permalink**) 10-01-2005, 12:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rigger

I have evacuated several times before in my hybrid. Of course when it came to getting to a gridlocked area I was lucky enough to swing a Ueeee and cut back to a crossover, went the other direction hit the GPS and found an alternate back road route to my destination. This only happened once last year after Hurricane Ivan. The other times I just went straight to the back roads knowing the main roads would be clogged with cars.

I did the same thing for hurricanes Frances and Jeanne last year. It's nice to know that even in bad traffic, I had the GPS and ICE auto shutoff.

Jeff_Y · #9 (**permalink**) 10-02-2005, 10:16 AM

Congratulations on a 'good' evacuation adventure. love new mexico.

Back in the 80s, i noticed that my cars -- a 79 mazda 626 at first, then an 88 toyota Camry with four-cylinders, also got better fuel economy at high altitude.
i looked inside the tailpipes and they were tan vs. the usual sooty black.

not that they got 'bad' fuel economy, but 35 and then 44 mpg was then unheard of!
i was a young father of two little ones and we got along fine on "only" 118 hp for a family sedan.

would you mind me citing your story for an article i'm going to write on hybrids and emergency "runs" like Rita's? if you have no problem with that, please PM me so I can get more info -- like your name, age, etc.

jeff

Quote:

Originally Posted by MGBGT

I evacuated in my Prius II and just returned to Galveston, after turning the evacuation into a mini-vacation of 2,250 miles.

I was actually in Alaska (work related) and on short notice flew back to Texas last Monday night, arriving in Galveston Tuesday morning. Prepared my lab at the U all day, the home at night, and my wife and I left with our cat Wednesday morning 4 am. Good thing we left that early as we avoided the evacuation insanity. Went as far as Albuquerque, and got back last night. 2,240 miles round trip. Had lots of fun, and luckily house and lab are fine, and we have electricity!
Over the course of the drive I managed to average 53.2 mpg with a completely loaded car, AC on all the time, and driving an average speed between 60 and 73 miles per hour.
Interestingly, in New Mexico I got susbtantially better mileage than in Texas, very noticeably. While driving in NM, my average mileage was 62 mpg. In Texas it was my usual low 45-49, which resulted in the overall average of over 50 for this trip.
No idea why the NM mileage was so much better, driving in NM was at an average elevation of about 5,5-6,000 ft, temperatures in the 80's and fairly dry. TX on the other hand elevation was below 3,000 ft (and past the hill country at near sea level), temperature in the upper 90's (and in fact peaking at 103), and humidity in the 90's as well.
Overall, I'm so glad we bought the Prius!
Hope all the rest of you along the Gulf Coast are doing ok!
M