G
Guest
·Flaw drains gas from hybrid vehicles
Defroster, AC lower mileage
Mark Phelan
Detroit Free Press
Mar. 26, 2005 12:00 AM
There's a loophole in how most hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles work, and countless gallons of gasoline are draining out of them.
Running the front defroster increases their fuel consumption drastically, as I discovered while driving three of them during Detroit's typically cold winter. Setting the air-conditioning on maximum cool has the same effect, so the problem is not limited to Northern regions.
None of the automakers admits knowing how much this increases the hybrids' fuel consumption, but one estimate is that drivers use the defroster or max the air-conditioner 10 percent of the time behind the wheel each year.
advertisement
The Ford Escape SUV, Honda Accord and Toyota Prius hybrids all fell far short of the fuel economy figures the companies advertise.
Hybrids, which use electric motors to supplement their gasoline engines, have won wide acclaim for the extremely high mileage they achieve in tests by the Environmental Protection Agency. According to the EPA, the Prius, the best-selling hybrid, gets 60 miles per gallon in city driving and 51 mpg on the highway. The Escape is rated at 36 and 31, the Accord 29 and 37.
The hybrids fell as much as 40 percent below the EPA mileage figures for combined city and highway driving during my recent test, which covered a mix of Detroit-area roads.
The Escape, the largest of the three vehicles, did fairly well, giving me 21.6 mpg. The Accord, which Honda promotes both for its fuel efficiency and the added performance of its electric motor, got 20.4 mpg. The Prius' fuel economy suffered the most, but particularly cold and slippery weather conditions certainly contributed to its 22.8 mpg.
A sophisticated feature that shuts the gasoline engine off when it's not needed is one of the key reasons the vehicles score so well with the EPA, but the Escape, Accord and Civic all lose that ability when the front defroster is on.
Nobody really knows how much of the time drivers use the front defroster or max AC. The best guess comes from Ford, which has 30-year-old research that says it's about 10 percent of the time for all drivers in the United States.
The Prius can operate its front defroster when the gasoline engine is off, but cold weather keeps the engine from shutting down as often and for as long as it does when the defroster is not engaged.
All three vehicles I drove probably got somewhat better fuel economy in my test than if I'd been driving conventional models, but this is just the latest example of hybrids falling short of the hype that surrounds them.
source: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... brids.html
Defroster, AC lower mileage
Mark Phelan
Detroit Free Press
Mar. 26, 2005 12:00 AM
There's a loophole in how most hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles work, and countless gallons of gasoline are draining out of them.
Running the front defroster increases their fuel consumption drastically, as I discovered while driving three of them during Detroit's typically cold winter. Setting the air-conditioning on maximum cool has the same effect, so the problem is not limited to Northern regions.
None of the automakers admits knowing how much this increases the hybrids' fuel consumption, but one estimate is that drivers use the defroster or max the air-conditioner 10 percent of the time behind the wheel each year.
advertisement
The Ford Escape SUV, Honda Accord and Toyota Prius hybrids all fell far short of the fuel economy figures the companies advertise.
Hybrids, which use electric motors to supplement their gasoline engines, have won wide acclaim for the extremely high mileage they achieve in tests by the Environmental Protection Agency. According to the EPA, the Prius, the best-selling hybrid, gets 60 miles per gallon in city driving and 51 mpg on the highway. The Escape is rated at 36 and 31, the Accord 29 and 37.
The hybrids fell as much as 40 percent below the EPA mileage figures for combined city and highway driving during my recent test, which covered a mix of Detroit-area roads.
The Escape, the largest of the three vehicles, did fairly well, giving me 21.6 mpg. The Accord, which Honda promotes both for its fuel efficiency and the added performance of its electric motor, got 20.4 mpg. The Prius' fuel economy suffered the most, but particularly cold and slippery weather conditions certainly contributed to its 22.8 mpg.
A sophisticated feature that shuts the gasoline engine off when it's not needed is one of the key reasons the vehicles score so well with the EPA, but the Escape, Accord and Civic all lose that ability when the front defroster is on.
Nobody really knows how much of the time drivers use the front defroster or max AC. The best guess comes from Ford, which has 30-year-old research that says it's about 10 percent of the time for all drivers in the United States.
The Prius can operate its front defroster when the gasoline engine is off, but cold weather keeps the engine from shutting down as often and for as long as it does when the defroster is not engaged.
All three vehicles I drove probably got somewhat better fuel economy in my test than if I'd been driving conventional models, but this is just the latest example of hybrids falling short of the hype that surrounds them.
source: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... brids.html