I disagree. Only lakedude knows what the purpose of his poll is, but to me the point that should be taken from this is that it's not JUST high mileage Hybrid drivers who have opportunities to make an impact. If the industry was to increase the low MPG vehicles in their fleets by a mere 1MPG the impact could be just as pronounced, if not more. Isn't that a good thing?

Rather than concentrating on the merits of Trucks/SUV's/Sports Cars/ETC. Wouldn't we be better just coming to grips with the fact that these vehicles exist, because the consumers in the country find there is a need for them, and then concentrate on how to make them more fuel efficient.

Not everything has to be this US vs THEM. An all of nothing attitude is unrealistic and in many ways almost detrimental to success and improvements. If more would concentrate their efforts on the low hanging fruit of small improvements, rather than the pie in the sky of total elimination, success might come sooner and quicker.

 

Yup. To all of it.

In many cases US=THEM

 

But if you look at the poll question, it's easy to interpert it that way. It omitted a lot of other choices, as another member pointed out. I don't think it's necessary to dredge the past month to remind everyone what the poll starter have been negative about hypermiling.

I've frequently redid polls because it needed more/better choices.

More concerning the US vs THEM banter: the first hybrid I drove aside from my own car was Wolfman's (former Prius Chat moderator) FEH. I'm on excellent terms with GaryG and Pravus Prime - they have contributed a lot on getting the most from what the drive. Wayne Gerdes on occasion drivers a Ford Ranger. I wonder why my posts do not offend them? My views on trucks and SUVs have been distorted by a few. I've never had a problem with a vehicle being put to work like this...


Could you point to where you discuss FE? Maybe you have and I just missed it.

Concerning fuel efficiency, the mention of hypermiling gets an unfriendly reception here too often, which is odd in a hybrid forum...it's like hearing racing attacked in a gearhead forum.

Several times, it's been mentioned that before 1980, SUV sales were at most 3% of sales and pickups were not a very slice of the pie either - nothing like the 45-50% it is today. If half of the population truly needed them, it would not have been that low before 1985, nor would the sales of Japanese high-milage cars be up while truck-heavy Detroit lays off thousands. This gets ignored with posts "they need them". It's like if you say "the Earth is flat" frequently, some will believe it, just like the Sudbury nickel mine and Dust to Dust articles.



I hope this winds down.

 

I would contend that even if auto makers increased efficiency people would find a way to increase consumption.

For example you take an extremely "efficient" engine and put it into an auto but it doesn't matter because people just drive it floored most of the time and see little benefit. On the other hand we have technology where you can have that efficient motor and help it along electrically so we don't have to floor it all the time.

So how does one raise truck and SUV MPG other than to promote efficiency? If people would accept and learn better driving habits it might do the trick, and I thought posting individual achievements might encourage others with the same or similar vehicles. I think hypermiling and getting the word out that one isn't necessarily "stuck" with bad mileage has the best chance at raising "the big picture".

 

I voted to raise SUV/Truck 1 mpg and as of now poll sits at 16 to 0 in favor of SUV/Trucks....

It was a good poll and made me reflect on the hybrid and minivan I own.

I want to thank all the long time contributors to this site - their advice on FE improvements has made my purchase of an 07 HCH II very rewarding both financially and personally (yep - less stress when you dont speed/brake as much). This, coming from a (recovering) Jeep 4x4 offroad enthusiast...

Hopefully I can help spread the word about the benefits of Hybrid vehicles and of driving methods for high FE.

Some things I am working on:
First - I am running the numbers to see about driving Ohio-Disney FLA versus flying.
Second - If we drive, I plan to spend the 20 hour trip trying to convince my Wife to buy a hybrid SUV in place of our minivan.
Third - I am going to run some round trips to work next week alternating good versus bad/no hypermiling FE techniques and record FE, travel times etc. Will share when I get it done.

 

Thanks Carl.

As I kinda mentioned before this poll is in response to those who have ripped on our unoffical GM rep and the Silverado Hybrid. I was hoping that someone would do the math (Thanks Brick!) so I wouldn't hafta. Sorry I never answered questions about exactly which trucks I was talking about, I never really thought about it that hard.

 

Eliminate stopping.

Every intersection will have a bridge in one direction.

 

I think this is when Bob would suggest smart intersections.

 

I'll do it. I think you need smart to make the most of it, though. Cue the automaton cheauffers!

 

Speaking of not *needing* a larger vehicle... I'm glad US citizens aren't dictated to on what size vehicle we're allowed to own/operate (well, at least not for the purpose of this thread).

My 31 mpg HAH is a great car, but I'd rather take my 19 mpg van on family road trips. Sure, I pay more for fuel. On a typical trip we take around once per month, it's 430 miles. At $2.85/gal, it costs us $25 more to take the van instead of the HAH. A small price to pay for the added comfort.

On a different note, in a typical year, we'll use 613 gallons in the HAH and 421 gallons in the van.