Hybrid Gets 88 MPG on 85% Ethanol

[Vercingetorix]

Larry, Joe,

When will you carry this? I'll be first in line.
Prototype Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid: 88 MPG on 85% Ethanol : Gas 2.0

[FishFood]

There ya go Ford. Finally a domestic stepping up to the plate.

I wonder what kind of fuel milage it could get w/ 90-100% gasoline?

[mitsuguy]

oh my god, how the auto manufacturers will lie, cheat and/or deceive to get a good rating...

it is a PLUG IN HYBRID!!!!

that means that part of it's fuel economy comes from the fact that you have to plug it into a wall socket to achieve that fuel economy...

The reality of it is that Ford is actually the farthest behind in real world hybrids, being that they use basically a big starter motor to help fuel economy... they are not as potent of a hybrid as Toyota.... yet... (the tech behind the new escape hybrid is real, and more of a competitor to Toyota, although they are years late)

IIRC, someone has built a plug in adapter for the Toyota Prius, and if you were to drive smartly with it (short trips around town), you could theoretically obtain almost 500 miles to the gallon... Averaging around 150 mpg is more realistic though...

But, keep in mind, your home electric bill will be up, although your gas station charges will be down...

[longtailbda]

What's amazing is in the late 80's my wife and I both had small cars that got 50-55 miles per gallon and now we can't find one at all.

[mitsuguy]

Originally Posted by longtailbda

What's amazing is in the late 80's my wife and I both had small cars that got 50-55 miles per gallon and now we can't find one at all.

once the government (and market) got serious about crash testing, they found one thing in common with all small cars - they were nowhere near as safe as their larger brothers...

all auto makers started making cars slightly larger, adding more features, increasing weight... increased weight requires a more powerful engine, more powerful engine usually means less fuel economy...

engine power efficiency has come up, and across the board, cars are getting better fuel mileage - the difference being that newer cars are just bigger and heavier...

there are some smaller cars (that still make the cars you speak of look like micro machines) that get 40+ mpg, but overall the cars are too heavy and big to get the better fuel economy...

[Vercingetorix]

Originally Posted by mitsuguy

oh my god, how the auto manufacturers will lie, cheat and/or deceive to get a good rating...

it is a PLUG IN HYBRID!!!!

that means that part of it's fuel economy comes from the fact that you have to plug it into a wall socket to achieve that fuel economy...

From the article:
can deliver a fuel economy of 88 mpg in the city and 50 mpg on the highway when using E85 (85% ethanol/15% gasoline blend).

The MPG is from ethanol alone, not including electric usage

[mitsuguy]

Originally Posted by Vercingetorix

From the article:
can deliver a fuel economy of 88 mpg in the city and 50 mpg on the highway when using E85 (85% ethanol/15% gasoline blend).

The MPG is from ethanol alone, not including electric usage

That's like saying the Toyota Prius gets 60 mpg with no battery pack... It doesn't... The way the test that is they charge the battery fully with the wall charger, fill the gas tank, and drive... when the tank is "empty" and the battery discharged, then they divide mileage by fuel consumed to get fuel mileage...

With a car like a Prius, there is no wall charger, at least not from the factory, so, it's up to the internal combustion engine to charge the battery from the start...

Again, it's a marketing gimmick, ploy, whatever you wanna call it... With a plug in modification to a Prius, using the same type of testing, 150 mpg is more realistic... The guys at MIT have modified one, using Lithium batteries instead of Nimh, and get around 250 mpg out of a prius...

[Znaught]

once the government (and market) got serious about crash testing, they found one thing in common with all small cars - they were nowhere near as safe as their larger brothers...

But not because of their lesser weight, but because of poor design. Vehicles heavier than late 20th century compact cars tend to be safer for their occupants because of their increased structural strength, not because of their increased mass. The safest automobiles in the world are also the lightest: F1 cars. A properly designed automobile will allow its passengers to walk away from a high speed impact, just like F1 cars often do. The trouble is getting the ultra conservative car manufacturers to embrace radically new and efficient designs and to quit their love affair with cheap, but heavy and corroding steel. Of course, the lighter a vehicle is, the more efficient it becomes. With proper engineering, (such as employing carbon fiber reinforced plastics in a monocoque chassis) you can create a vehicle that is very lightweight (efficient) and safe.

Check out this news story about weight and efficiency --> Racing principles' role in cutting emissions

[emcbride81]

And now with the flooding in Iowa and the other midwest states, the price of ethanol will skyrocket...

[the gooch]

Ethanol is NOT the answer.