Hybrid Fuel Cost Comparison

You might enjoy a little converter at www.fast-math.org/motorfuelcost.htm
in which you can enter the approximate miles you drive per year, the
mileage your current car gets, and what another vehicle you're
considering will get, and then see how much money you'll save per
year.
Take care!
- Jeff

 

It would be more meaningful if one could put in their percentage of highway
and city type driving into the calculation and the respective mileages for
both vehicles.

As an example, I usually drive 10K miles per year, with about 70% highway.
My current vehicle (2004 EXL V6) gets 22 mpg city, 30 mpg highway, while
hybrids get lower mileage highway then they do city driving conditions.

 

That's not my experiences. My Prius gets 52 to 60 mpg on highway driving,
year around. Don't believe Toyota's listed ratings. In town it's stop and
go, ad nauseam. I get about 43 mpg in the summer and 38 mpg in the winter.
I don't jump start at intersections, but I don't hold up traffic by creeping
out either. I don't know how they are able to get away saying 60 in the city
unless it's all beltline driving. Most towns don't have beltlines.
(Besides, they are highways) Believe Consumers Reports when they say it's 46
mpg all around average. Like most people, I drive short trips in town and
not much highway travel.

I heard the EPA is finally waking up and changing their method to calculate
city driving. Up to now they cater to big business and not the consumer.

All in all. I love my Prius. I drive about 12k miles per year. No matter how
much Toyota and other companies lie, I still get two to three times the
mileage I've ever got on any compact car.

Mr Ed
http://www.ed-camin.com
http://home.earthlink.net/~bcamin/betty.htm
http://www.mountairykiwanis.org
http://www.ma-artleague.org
http://home.earthlink.net/~j3dogs/index.htm

 

Bullshit.

 

perhaps its highway driving downhill

 

Or else he drives a steady 46mph on the highway.

The rest of what he says is right-on, but if he's in weather where he's
getting 38mpg in winter, then no normal highway driving shows him
52-60mpg year round.

 

go to http://www.greenhybrid.com/ & see real mileage databases, this gives
the mileage of real people in real time, tells you what % of mileage is city
& highway.

 

Any site that shows Prius battery performance for the last 10 years...
they first came out in 97 right?

 

Go to the site, search for your keyword, few problems but I suspect that is
not what you want to hear.

 

How's your sister Rosie O'Donnell?

WAVE

 

All accounts are that hybrid batteries are holding up very well and
the companies don't expect to replace many under the 8 year warranty.
Toyota says it has not replaced a single battery pack due to wear and
tear or failure. That includes some Priuses with over 200,000 miles.

 

Pardon my ignorance in hybrids, I dont personally know anyone who owns
a prius. I asked because I've seen some car ads selling used Prius
batteries. Who buys them if all hybrid batteries are holding up?,
maybe those car owners don't go to Toyota since used batteries are
cheaper. Though I dont know how complicated it is to DIY a hybrid
battery replacement. Are there companies who replace bad cells on a
hybrid battery pack such that they revive 2 scrap battery and create
one refurbished battery pack. Its just that I've heard this kind of
repair method on some laptop battery computers.

What would be an indication that a hybrid battery is going or gone
bad? poor mpg, stalled vehicle?

 

I have no experiences with a hybrid, but most manufacturers advertise a
lower MPG highway driving then city, at least in most of the commercial
material I have seen.

I've gotten 35-38 average MPG in an old Subaru that I used to have (late
70's model). One would have thought it was powered by a squirrel cage,
though.

Quite good in the snow....

 

Very interesting....nice site.

 

In the US automakers are required to show only the EPA's figures, which
are faulty. Real Priuses usually get better fuel economy on the highway
than in stop-and-go city driving.

 

There are a fair number of experimenters making all-electric cars and
modifying hybrids to be plug-in hybrids. Prius batteries would be
quite useful to these people. Consider your question in a different
way. If hybrid batteries didn't hold up, who would be buying used
ones?

Well, keep in mind that the battery and other hybrid components are
warranted for 8 years/100,000 miles, relatively few are out of
warranty. Even if Toyota's claim means only that none were replaced
under warranty, that would indicate that they are holding up pretty
well.

Yes, bad cells can be replaced.

Don't know bout that.

 

Yes, but the Prius really does *usually* do better in the city than the
highway. Is possible to do worse in the city but that requires extreme
effort.

 

That very well may be the case, though I was speaking of all hybrids in
general. Not sure if the Prius would be considered an outlier or not....

 

One would have to see the numbers for this plug in to recharge application.
Electric rates are +$0.20 KWH where I live!

 

The ideal solution would be middle of the night/off-peak charging, where
rates are frequently a small fraction of average.