Recent Comments:
SAE Congress '08: Riding in MTU's Challenge X hybrid Equinox (video) {Autoblog Green}
Apr 15th 2008 10:34PM COOL!
A much less expensive (and a little easier) way to create a 30mpg+ Equinox is to buy a Ford Escape Hybrid and glue "Equinox" badge on the front. saves you about $250,000, too!
Good job to the students who made it happen, although it shouldn't have cost quite that much!
Al Gore's son arrested, with pot, after doing 100 mph in a Prius {Autoblog Green}
Dec 20th 2007 12:56AM 1) So Gore's son is completely irresponsible--agreed. But do you really want to hold Gore responsible for his son? I don't. I think every person is responsible for himself/herself.
2) What you drive, how you drive, and how long of a distance you drive are all important. A prius going 80 mph obviously doesn't get 50 mpg, but gets around 40+--still much better than Hummer could manage at ANY speed. How you drive also matters, but in informal test the fuel economy varies no more than ~20% depending on how you drive (20% is the difference between 90% percentile aggressive and 10% aggressive). And, of course, most people forget that the easiest way to use less fuel is to drive less! I don't care if you own five hummers, as long as you never drive them.
So it depends, but the main effects are, in most likely order: how much you drive, what you drive, and how you drive.
I'm glad your bimmer gets good fuel economy, but I bet you can't break 30 mpg in regular driving. Well, a Prius driver would be VERY HARD PRESSED to get a fuel economy as low as 30 mpg even with an agressive style
Micro-hybrids set to take off in coming years {Autoblog Green}
Dec 20th 2007 12:18AM A lot of people here automatically discount anything that doesn't seem like the perfect solution to them, but this is a relatively simple way to decrease a complete WASTE of fuel. This is a system that is very viable, cheap, and completely worth buying for anyone who does decent amount of city driving. I think such systems should be (at least) optional on all cars, so those of us who drive in cities a lot can help the environment and save money!
The beauty of this system is that you get 5% fuel economy improvement (perhaps more if you do lots of city driving) with minimal investment. If made in large quantities, this system would be LESS than $500 for sure (maybe $300). That's cheap enough that car companies could make it standard on all their cars, and nobody would even notice a price increase. Meanwhile, in most cars the fuel savings would pay back the system in a couple of years, not to mention the benefit to the environment. Again, the benefit seems small, but if implemented on all cars, you'd see as much as 5% reduction on our country's TOTAL gasoline usage--that's a lot of gasoline. And if you care about energy security issue, that would translate into 10% reduction in the amount of imported crude. Again, sizable gains country-wide from a small improvement made to all cars (because only ~50% of crude used is imported).
So...sure full hybrids are great, but if used only in small quantities may not change the overall GHG emissions / oil security issue. It's important to find ways to reduce consumption of A LARGE NUMBER of vehicles, any way we can
Paris Hilton: "I'm buying a hybrid car right now" {Autoblog Green}
Dec 19th 2007 11:43PM The clear takeaway from the picture is that this Mercedes is one HOT car. I couldn't care less about her.
First Drive: 2009 Honda FCX Clarity on the road {Autoblog Green}
Dec 19th 2007 10:28PM First of all, unfortunately I've noticed that a lot of people have opinions based on mistaken or erroneous facts. Please find out some facts about different alternative fuels/technologies before publicly sharing your views. It's better for the discussion groups, and much better for your edification.
Also, a couple of different comments on Clarity, aside from the fact that it's an awesome leap of technology available publicly:
1) Some people say that it looks funny. Looks are certainly subjective, but to me it appears to have extremely smooth lines. It is definitely one of the sleekest (if not THE sleekest) sedans in the world! Personally, I think it looks great: unique, but not awkward.
2) On a more objective level, I think the cost of $600/month is much lower than it seems. It appears high because you're writing one, LARGE, lump check to Honda every month. But that includes the car, insurance, and all maintenance/repairs (can't go to your neighborhood mechanic with this one!). A short-term lease on any nice midsize to entry-luxury car is $300-400/month, when you add insurance to it (I pay >$100/month), you have $400-500. Add some maintenance, and you are EASILY at $500+ per month. Then consider the fuel savings: author estimated that the Clarity's fuel costs would be less than 1/2 of Accord's. At 25 mpg, $4/gallon, and 15,000 miles per year, you're SAVING $1200/yr, or $100/month! So comparing the Total Cost of Ownership (the real metric of "Price") of Clarity vs. any reasonably nice car, you may find that Clarity is, in fact, cheaper to own!! These numbers are approximate, and the costs vary with different cars, people, and areas, but this estimate shows that $600+hydrogen per month for total cost of ownership of Clarity is COMPLETELY COMPETITIVE with normal car ownership in today's market. For such a novel technology, this is a true bargain. It would be interesting to do an accurate Total-Cost-Of-Ownership comparison of Clarity and several regular cars. I think you'd be surprised.
