 quest for, 100 mpg |
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| quest for, 100 mpg |
 Mar 21 2007, 01:53 PM
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#16
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 Oh baby bring me down  Group: Agents Posts: 4,115 Joined: 23-February 06 From: Way out yonder Member No.: 68  |
spex, when you say plug in, do you say that you have to externally charge the batteries and the motor will not keep up?
-------------------- Southern Rock, beer and bears!
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Mar 22 2007, 08:26 AM
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#17
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Group: Admin Posts: 6,906 Joined: 22-February 06 From: Austin Member No.: 9 |
QUOTE (chook @ Mar 21 2007, 12:53 PM)  spex, when you say plug in, do you say that you have to externally charge the batteries and the motor will not keep up? Yeah. You basically just plug 'em in to your garage outlet at night. I haven't looked into specifics on them, but I presume they switch over to primarily gas-power (with some electric, like a regular hybrid) when the battery bank charge is getting low. -------------------- |
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Mar 22 2007, 01:33 PM
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#18
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 Group: Members Posts: 10,620 Joined: 23-February 06 From: Houston, TX Member No.: 48 |
heh so your gas bill goes down $100 and your light bill goes up $200
 maybe someday we'll all have mini-fusion reactors in our cars 
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Mar 22 2007, 02:59 PM
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#19
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Group: Admin Posts: 6,906 Joined: 22-February 06 From: Austin Member No.: 9 |
I honestly don't know what the cost differences are (in terms of fuel+electricity) between regular and plug-in hybrids. However, some of the rationale behind plug-in hybrids is that it's much easier and cost-effective to transition power plants to clean fuels than it is transition millions of automobiles over to alternative fuels like hydrogen.
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Mar 22 2007, 03:08 PM
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#20
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Oh baby bring me down Group: Agents Posts: 4,115 Joined: 23-February 06 From: Way out yonder Member No.: 68 |
electric motors are more efficient, we would be driving electric cars now, but the coulomb capacitance for current battery technology sucks. The compressed gas that the article talked about may store more usable energy than batteries, but i have no clue!
-------------------- Southern Rock, beer and bears!
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Mar 26 2007, 03:29 PM
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#21
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Group: Admin Posts: 6,906 Joined: 22-February 06 From: Austin Member No.: 9 |
I've done a little bit more research on plug-in hybrids and it looks like they would be cheaper to fuel (with both gasoline and electricity costs) than either a pure-gas vehicle or a standard hybrid. You only get that cost savings, however, if you're driving the vehicle fairly short distances each day. Otherwise, once you deplete the battery pack, it's going to cost the same as an unmodded hybrid (still cheaper than a standard vehicle).
CalCars' Prius+ has a 9kWh battery pack, the charge for which lasts over about 50 miles. While operating off of that charge, typical usage gives the car 100 mpg, but has the potential for up to 200 mpg if you're going at low-ish speeds (55 mph or under) without drastic acceleration. More info: http://www.calcars.org/priusplus.html http://www.edrivesystems.com/faq.html http://auto.howstuffworks.com/plug-in-hybrid-car.htm This post has been edited by Spectatrix: Mar 26 2007, 03:30 PM -------------------- |
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