omgwtfbyobbq
Active Member
The EPA fuel economy ratings were confusing/annoying in the past, but they've gotten better in my opinion. A Prius Prime gets 133 combined MPGe for the first 25 miles of a trip, and 54mpg combined after that. A Tesla gets 103 combined MPGe. If you have a long enough commute, the Tesla will use less energy and have a higher average MPGe, and if you mostly take shorter trips, the Prius could have a higher average MPGe.I am of the decided opinion that the entire 'MPGe' concept is a load of [BOLSHEVIK]. It seems to be calculated in precisely a manner to make sure that low mileage, low battery pack capacity vehicles from ICE manufacturers are awarded with 100+ MPGe, even when the total range is far below 100 miles. Further, it is designed to reward plug-in hybrid vehicles with 80+ MPGe ratings even when the majority of their complete range is achieved at only ~42 MPG running on gasoline the entire time. Like I said, I'm not a fan of the 'use less gas' principle of car design. Mostly because for every gallon of gasoline burned, no matter how efficiently per mile, you still get 100% of the emissions generated.
Look at it this way... A gallon of gasoline contains approximately 33.7 kWh of energy. With about a 9 or 12 gallon capacity fuel tank, that would work out to between 303 kWh and 404 kWh of energy reserve. If you'll remember, both the Prius and VOLT were originally marketed as 'an electric car that runs on gas' -- which was complete [BOLSHEVIK], of course. Each company dropped those tag lines very shortly after release, but I think the damage had already been done to the public psyche. If as much as 90% of the energy in gasoline was converted directly to electric drive, I'd have no problem at all with hybrids. But it is instead not even 40% efficient -- more than 50% less than what I would consider nominal. With around 273 kWh available for motivation, an electric car that runs on gas, would probably have a range not less than ~818 miles, and possibly as much as ~1,090. That would be an actual, real world observed fuel economy of anywhere from 90 MPG to 121 MPG.
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