Hybrid News

Have your voice heard regarding Alternative Fuel Vehicles. A Boston-based University is looking for survey respondents for a study being supported by the National Science Foundation.
The URL is: http://survey.cba.neu.edu/shinebox

Upon completing the survey, register for a drawing for a Snap-on Wrench Set, valued at $229.99. There are five chances of winning. Thank you to Snap-on Tools for sponsoring this research (http://www.snapon.com/)

We need to attract several hundreds respondents, and would be most appreciative if you would consider helping us get the word out about the survey, which takes about 10 to 15 minutes to complete.

I have over and over seen a Commercial on ( Denver ) T.V. that says "Come check out the new Pontiac ˋ that gets 44 MPG!"

I thought that was pretty phenominal for a non-hybrid.
I went to the Pontiac web site:
http://www.pontiac.com/g5/?seo=ysm_|…5_|_pontiac_g5

And it says "37 MPG Hwy". Still good, but not 44 MPG.

Is this false advertising? Or is the dealer using the MPG at 40 MPH?
( The sweet spot in most cars is 35-40 MPH )

In winter, is it better for fuel effeciency to let the motor heat itself (I mean motor on and without driving) or let the motor heat during the drive ?

Hi,

Do you think gasoline in Europe is best or worst than in America or Canada ? I mean, is Eurpean gasoline contains less or more energy than an American or Canadian one ?

In Europe, USA is well known for its crude oil and oil companies… So this question is in my head and I have no answer…

I have an old Nissan Altima which breaks down quite often and the milage sucks. With the ever increasing gas prices I thought of trying to convert the thing without selling to scrap yard but the question is, is it worthwhile spending all that money on that old thing? I would love to take any advice at all from all of you…. Please give me your feedback.

I did a quick search of the forums and nothing popped up as having mentioned this site before, so –

EcoDrivingUSA.com

Nothing here is likely to surprise the hypermilers and pre-existing ecodrivers among us, but check it out and pass it along to friends and family, since ecodriving is something ALL drivers can do, regardless of their vehicle’s powertrain (ICE only, ICE+electric, or 100% electric).

The site is apparently sponsored by the "Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers" (http://www.autoalliance.org/) and they describe it thusly — "EcoDriving is one of the quickest ways to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions."

Hope this benefits and/or interests someone. Have a great day!

Got a quick question. When I am adding a fuel tank to show mpg in the database, what do I put for temperature? If it averages 30 deg. F in the morning and 60 deg. F in the afternoon, on my typical commute, do I put the 45 deg. F because it is the average between the two?

I’m something of an MPG tracking geek (OK, so I’m just a geek overall) so I’ve used both FuelFrog.com (@FuelFrog on Twitter.com) and today I just completed importing all my GreenHybrid.com MPG data to Fuelly.com (@Fuelly on Twitter.com).

I’m loving Fuelly.com and wish I’d been tracking the price per gallon over the course of my mileage tracking, but alas, I haven′t. I might try to pull in an average from gasbuddy.com for my area at some point, but that would just be a SWAG (Stupid Wise Acre Guess… cleaned that up for the kids.)

Anyway, anyone else using or have used either?

I’m not happy with FuelFrog and have pretty much abandoned it. GreenHybrid.com I continue to use, but Fuelly.com is a new favorite I have to say.

* Fuelly.com account: http://www.fuelly.com/driver/ageekmom/escape

Seems as though it would be good to compare real mileage of both hybrid and traditional power plants so that we could actually see the impact of hybrid technology on the auto market as a whole.

I would love to see real mileage stats on other cars. With everybody uncertain about the EPA ratings and whether they′re meaningful or not, especially after revamping the testing process, it seems real data would be very helpful. I always ask people but you never know what they′ll respond with, usually it’s some form of idealism or wishful thinking. The mileage database circumvents any emotional attachment to the FE because its based on real long term data. (And it would also be helpful to have data about the city/hwy proportion of each tank, can that feature be added? Seems a lot more relevant than temperature and ride time to me).

It would also help people make educated decisions about whether a hybrid could work for them or if a traditional car might come close to meeting their needs. I am considering buying a Honda Fit, for example, because I really wanted a hatchback rather than a sedan. As such, I would love to see what owners are really getting for FE in those cars.

I realize this is a hybrid enthusiast’s forum and tracking all that other info might be beyond the intended scope of this site, but we all are likely to have other cars in addition to our hybrids so it isn’t unrealistic to think we could put together a reasonable variety of cars. And you can probably safely assume that if we’re tracking mileage carefully on our hybrids we are most likely doing so on our other vehicles as well.

Great site, I’ve enjoyed my years here so far. I just thought adding that extra data would be a great extension of this excellent resource.

My 2007 Camry Hybrid has been seeing 37-41 MPG city mileage since new (rated 40). Three drivers with various driving patterns. Couple months ago, I got my family to agree to let me be the only driver for one tank where I would try some hypermileage techniques on my 12 mile each way commute (including 9 miles of freeway). That is, timing lights carefully, slow accelerations, minimal AC use (even in Phoenix!), and using cruise control at the speed limit when traffic permits. That got me into the 700 mile club with 46.1 MPG, slightly better than a 20% improvement. Not bad, and it added less than 2 minutes to my normal 16 minute morning commute (but 25-35 minutes afternoon return).

I decided to try the same with my 2006 Sienna minivan, rated at 17 MPG city, and typically getting 17.5. Today, after a month of using similar hypermileage techniques on this minivan, I got my results. The results were 25.5 MPG, a 45% improvement!

This was not only a tremenously pleasent surprise, but now I get to drive my TCH again!

– Alan

I just bought a new 2009 TCH. I just filled up gas for the first time.
I was not that impressed with the mileage I got.
First tank of gas was 700km.
Does it get better as the vehicle gets broken in or is it a matter of driving habits.
I need somebodys’ input, desperate:(

http://www.metronews.ca/edmonton/live/article/113440

My understanding is these will be significantly less expensive than other two–mode hybrids.

Bob Wilson

So to start, I observed a $.60 increase from Thursday to Friday in Lugoff, SC. Other stations seem to be in the $.30 to .40 and some seem to have "not got the memo" and still charging pre-gouge prices.

I am sure someone can beat $.60..

I have a 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid. I bought it used about two months ago. Ford replace the battery about two weeks ago. I have to barely touch the gas pedal to keep it in electric only when accelerating from stop. When I was test driving used Escapes I don’t recall any of the others being this sensitive. I only get about 27 MPG average and that is driving like a little old lady.:cry: Does anyone know if there is a way to adjust the sensitivity of the gas motor "kicking in" so it stays in battery only mode longer?

I love the way it drives, but it is frustrating to not get the MPG that I should be getting.:angry:

thanks for you help,
Dan

My daily commute is 40 miles. I drive a 2006 Civic. I’ve been averaging 61.1 mpg for the past 7500 miles. My blog is at http://mililaniblog.wordpress.com/. Hybrids are the best, at least until they come out with something better.