Comments on: Hyundai and Ford Will Offer Micro-Hybrids

By: uofsc93

uofsc93 — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:17:31 +0000

2014 – I love Fords, and am in the market to trade in for one, but can’t fathom why their so behind everyone when it comes to mini hybrids and other technological advances across their model lines.

By: ex-EV1 driver

ex-EV1 driver — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 22:48:47 +0000

RonBham,
It isn't fair to look at how much air conditioning affects your mpg since cars with better mpg will always look worse than cars with poor mpg even though your AC costs really remain the same. Higher mpg cars just cost you less to drive but just as much to air condition.
This is because you're going to consume the same amount of energy running the air conditioning for the 20 to 30 minutes per day, irregardless of how much energy your car uses to drive with.
For example: if you assume the A/C uses about 0.24 gallons per hour then: a car that consumes 24 mpg w/ AC, 22 mpg w/o AC looks like the AC takes about 2 mpg at 60 mph. With the same AC but a car that consume 50 mpg w/o AC, you'll only get 42 mpg with the AC on, looking like the AC costs you 8 mpg. Likewise a car that gets 1000 mpg w/o AC will only get 200 mpg with AC, looking like the AC uses 800 mpg. In reality, the AC consumes just as much and costs you just as much gas in all of the examples above.
At the other extreme a car that gets 5 mpg w/o AC would look like the AC only costs you 0.1 mpg because it's wasting so much gas and money that you barely even notice the AC.

By: RonBham

RonBham — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 16:52:50 +0000

What about the effects of constant air conditioning use? Down here in Alabama the summers are too brutal and humid to forgo it. I also wonder how much it reduces gas mileage in any hybrid (or micro hybrid). I will be trading for a a hybrid vehicle this fall as I have a 23 mile roundtrip commute to work (60% hwy) daily. I guess any hybrid will get better mileage than my premium drinking 530I which averages 22 or so.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 16:01:44 +0000

Stop-Start is a false start. GM offered this and for pretty big bucks got about 2 MPG better mileage. If you are going to pay more to get high mileage, pay enough to get a real hybrid like the Ford Fusion or the Hyundai Sonata or the Toyota Prius and Camry.

By: BMWdriver

BMWdriver — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 14:00:16 +0000

My auto manual notes that even if you are going to be stopped for as little as 4 seconds, shutting off the car during that time will save fuel. A couple of obvious points:

If you are going to be stopped for something like 10 seconds or less, it is probably more of a hassle to stop and restart the car considering the miniscule amount of fuel you will save.

There are arguments to be made about wearing out the starter on the engine by excessive starts. And perhaps your air conditioner will not keep running, which would be no good on a HOT day.

Most cars with the auto stop feature have a small electric motor that obviates the need for a starter, so that argement is out the window.

I rarely frequent a drive through, but I do shut my car off at the bank drive through teller because they tend to take longer than 10 seconds about 100% of the time!

Cheers!

By: Max Reid

Max Reid — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 22:31:38 +0000

Some improvement is better than no improvement.

Pretty soon the market will have full suite of Hybrids
Mild - Just a start-stop system
Partial - Motor supplements the Engine
Full - Motor powers the vehicle
Plugin - Battery charged by grid and gives power for certain range.

On top of all will be EV - which is full fledged electric powered vehicle.

By: MC

MC — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 11:23:15 +0000

Just call the feature auto-stop like it's already called on the Honda hybrids.

Also, it's simply ludicrous to believe that a vehicle produces more emissions in the 0.25 seconds it takes to start than it does sitting idling two minutes at a long traffic light. Please...

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 04:59:45 +0000

BMWdriver, that is a good point if true. one of the reasons i love the idea of prius is the start-stop technology.

just imagine, what's more frustrating than stuck in traffic than knowing you are also wasting precious fuel? with start-stop, at least stuck in traffic will a small consolation that you are using less energy.

i am also one of those people who tends to run low on a tank (1/4 left) before fueling up. this would help running out of fuel fears on a highway because traffic isn't moving.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 04:54:01 +0000

In Europe Volkswagen simply calls this feature ‘Start/Stop’. It isn’t yet available on all the models, but most models that have the so-called ‘Bluemotion’ efficiency package include it. And to deal with the warm engine issue, the feature doesn’t work from the minute you start the car. There is some logic about the engine being x degrees and perhaps other parameters as well that influence whether it works. I think there is a button to turn off the feature as well.

By: BMWdriver

BMWdriver — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 01:21:46 +0000

The reason the U.S. does not have much in the way of micro hybrids or start/stop only is because it doesn't help the car maker achieve higher city MPG numbers on the EPA sticker.

The EPA test simply doesn't give much credit for the start stop savings. From what I recall there are maybe four quick stops during the EPA's city test. So although the technology would undoubtedly save consumers from using fuel, the car makers are no closer to meeting new CAFE standards.

Cheers!