I know your thinking (like the caveman commercial) What?!

But I've been tring to ponder, much like the tree falling and no one can hear it, does higher MPG really mean your spending less for gas? So heres my thoughts.
A) You drive say 10 miles to work. Using all your newly accuired hybrid driving skills, you achieve an outstanding (to make it easy) 40Mpg. Wow your doing great, but doing so takes you 20 min to get to work, but you only get to 100% EV usage say no more than 1-2 miles of that trip.
B) Now say you make the same trip like "normal" it takes only 10 min, and you only EV lets say stoplights, but very little actual distance <.5mile, but still achieve say 34Mpg.

Who is using less gallons of gas, A or B ?

 

Technically, there is no such thing as "sound" as there is no such thing as "color" either. Both are man's interpretation of energy processed through the brain. When a tree falls in a forest void of intelligent life, it sends a wave of mechanical energy through the forest. But with no brain to process this energy, it really is not a "sound". It is just nondescript energy.

Color is just different wavelengths of electromagnetic energy. Your brain tells you this wavelength is "red" and that wavelength is "blue". But to a machine, without a "brain" there is no color. Just wavelengths. Color is only in man's brain.

Now, a MPG is always a MPG.
Getting 40 miles from a gallon is ALWAYS better than getting 34 MPG.
Isn't dropping $1 in a slot machine and winning $40 always better than dropping in a buck and winning $34???

-John

 

gpsman1
FEH technologist ...+philosopher!

A good answer, John.

 

A more practical question might be the overall question of how much less gasoline will be used if cars get better gas mileage. This is a basic Economics puzzle.

Driving has costs - gas, depreciation, time spent, etc.

Driving also has benefits - mobility, access to distant places, sheer enjoyment for those who like to drive, etc.

Owning a hybrid directly decreases the cost, making driving more attractive and, at least theoretically, increasing the number of miles driven.

Economic theory would say that (with man as a rational animal) doubling the gas mileage would not save half the gas because the number of miles driven would increase.

How about it, long time hybrid drivers - do you drive more miles now?

 

John is right. The units say it all. If work is ten miles away it does not matter if it takes you a day and half vs 10 minutes to get there (time is not part of the units). You save gas getting 40 mpg vs 34. For 10 miles @ 40mpg you use 10/40 or .25 gallons. For 10 miles @ 34 mpg you use a little more than .294 gallons of gas.

However your ponderings are not completely off. Maximizing MPGs is NOT the same thing as minimizing fuel use. One common thing I have seen on this group is talking about planning your route to maximize MPG. This can be a costly mistake. Suppose there is a mountain one mile up and one mile down. Further, there is a road straight up/down and a second road around. Going around (1/2) the mountain is 10 miles, but you get 40 mpg. Going up/down the mountain is 2 miles, but you only get 20 mpg. Up/down the mountain uses 1/10 of a gallon. Around uses 1/4 of a gallon. So your mileage can be pretty bad, but it still could be the right thing to do.

Cris

 

One other cost involved.... if it takes you twice as long to get to work each day, how about the lost productivity costs of the lost time?

 

Yes but someone that lives in the HIGH country would MAKE gas if given the mountian route

 

The example used of getting 34mpg on a 10 mile trip in ten minutes is the best of both Worlds. For those that have a SG and work 10 miles away, can you average 60mph and get 34mpg everyday to work in ten minutes? Now that's a hypermiler on steroids!

GaryG

 

I was thinking in a more general sense.

But sure I can go 60mph on my city streets.... HEY GRANDMA GET OUTTA MY WAY!!! Yea..I wouldn't kill anybody trying that.

 

So this obviously is always my first thought to. Duh it makes sence. But then I start thinking of the time factor. I guess under the question is what does mpg = in gallon per min? So maybe that is the question. Something I can't figure out in my simple brain, but know others have figured gallon mer min/hour. So if 40mpg = say .4gal/min (I know this is wrong) and 34mpg = .34, now time is a factor 20min x .4 = 8gal and 10 x .34 = 3.4gal used (obviously fictious numbers)

does this add to the orginal equation, or is it a seperate issue all togather.
Now obviously nothing is this simple with the FEH as while driving in EV 0 gas is used (that's the reason for my 1-2 miles & .5mile in my senerio).