November 24, 2003
Thinking of a Hybrid Electric Car?
Well you might want to do some rethinking. It seems that the cars only really start to show their superior MPG when you get pas the 5 mile mark. So if you have a long commute (say 15 or more miles) you'll see a big improvement in your MPG.
Posted by Steve at November 24, 2003 09:59 AMI've been interested in hybrid cars for decades, since reading about them in Mother Earth News. I think a hybrid hotrod, maybe a '48 Cadillac, would be bitchin. My old friend M.Simon, a Rickover trained embedded systems designer, and fellow member of the commentariat is downright enthusiastic about them.
Fact of the matter is that they only make sense if you do a lot of stop and go driving. The extra power conversions involved are inherently inefficient. The payoff is that they are recharging when you are stopped, which is when an ordinary car is getting zero miles to the gallon.
Posted by: triticale on November 25, 2003 09:17 PM