You'd mentioned an "engineer" and I could think of no better engineer with Prius experience than Hobbit followed only by http://www.99mpg.com/. Between those two and their friends, I can't imagine any group better qualified to talk about hybrid technology.

Bob Wilson

 

I hope he does not mind, but Mike D is the one...he knows hobbit I believe.

 

Bob:

Indeed, Hobbit and Mike (and others) are at the top of their game. No doubt about it.

However, regardless of how fascinating and beneficial I find "their game", there's only so much these great people can do that constitutes a change of the proportions that Wayne and the gang are shooting for.

To put it in perspective: my innate affinity is technical in nature and is governed by what I do on a daily basis. Fine. But I have to be humble and honest enough to admit that my inability to appeal to more people other than those who share my narrow interpretations of what hybrid technology is, is embarrassing and limited. Up until this day, I have yet to meet a true career engineer who who can let go of this limitation on demand.

I also submit that while we absolutely need the "Hobbits and Mikes" of this world to keep a SIG and elitist fan based energized, we definitely need folks like Wayne who will work hard to disseminate helpful information at a much larger and all-encompassing scale.

So instead of trivializing or dismissing each other's contributions and accomplishments, why don't we just take a step back, relax... and if we indeed can see beyond our little world: Who knows, maybe we can offer credit where credit is due?


Cheers;

MSantos

 

Horse racing is built upon:

• breeders - who get the right horse body
• stables - who train the horse body to perfection
• jockeys - who manage the horse during the race

It takes all three to make a winning combination and not give all praise, recognition and attribution to just one. So the proof of a good breeder is to make consistent winners like the Man O' War line. The proof of a good stables is to get the horses to their peak state of health and strength. The proof of a good jockey, like a Willie Shoemaker, is riding a lower ranked horse and still winning.

Now I don't have an problem with folks who have other priorities in life and a different weighting about horse breeding, stables and jockeys. This is what makes life interesting and fun. But if a Willie Shoemaker were to clam that he'd made Man O' War, some of us would 'roll our eyes' and find something else to talk about.

So I really don't have anything else to add beyond what I'd already posted. I'm glad Wayne is starting to demonstrate his skills with non-hybrid vehicles although I wish they were "off the lot" rentals and not ones that have been 'tuned' in the stables. Regardless, the more Wayne demonstrates with non-hybrid vehicles, the better for everyone. If he could just get a Hummer ...

Bob Wilson

 

I've actually seen the Accord myself. I was in Chicago a few years ago and had dinner with Wayne. He's a good guy.

 

I have no problem with either of these statements. However, as anyone who has ever worked sucessfully in sales or marketing will tell you -- "perception is reality" -- when it comes to convincing anyone about anything if they have no prior experience or exposure.

In other words, it does Wayne (and our community) no good if the public perception, incorrect or not, is that hypermilers dangerously tailgate. It therefore becomes the responsibility of Wayne, and each and every one of us, to ensure that the story is correctly told if we have any interest in developing an accurate public perception -- even to the extent of withholding release if the press insists on distorting or spinning the facts.

I saw the Channel 5 piece, and I must admit that without some prior knowlege the general impression left was a mild perception that some of the things we do are dangereous -- and that all hypermilers do them.

 

This is sort of like some men assuming that any woman that gets raped IS responsible. (strong language, but accurately sums up the quote I'm referencing)

The Channel 5 reported wanted to spin negativity in the hypermiling story regardless if it was true (which it's not).

There are probably 50 or so different hypermiling stories to date and they are better than the early ones, inspite of the tendacy of some reporters to over do the edgier stuff. This is a disservice as there are a lot of good things dismissed - throwing the baby with the bathwater.

Many of you visit PriusChat and know Tony P Schaffer - he was in "The Prius Effect" last week. Commenters ripped him as if he were Wayne in his driving. Tony does lots of things to improve his fuel economy but definitely not the controversial things Wayne does, but that did not stop the ignorant flaming.

Yesterday, 1800 members and guests were recorded at CleanMPG, and it crashed...the webhost said the volumn was probably 10x more. Suffice to say people are listening to some of the hypermiling techniques.

We hypermiles are going to the press again...won't bat 1.000, but get the average up.

 

Thanks for the "heads up." I'll hold off on my quarterly survey of CleanMPG until the gas prices come down in October/November.

Bob Wilson

 

i wouldn't hold my breath...........


as for wayne or anyone else who wants to hypermile a hummer, i suspect used ones are going to be pretty easy to get shortly. new ones, not so much.......thank goodness.


and bob, i pretty much have to agree with your assessment of reporters and 70%. i have done half a dozen interviews in the past year, and they always manage to sneak in something that they have assumed or found elsewhere and did a verbal copy and paste.


and one other little thing.......there ARE other hybrids than prius. i know.....i drive one. and i'm not an engineer, rather quite the opposite as an artist, but i know what works on my car to make it get the numbers i get (my lifetime is higher than in my sig, since i haven't upgraded tanks in a long time). i can talk intelligently to a reporter, and in a language the people without the engineering gene can understand. don't get me wrong, engineering and science have their place, but not everyone gets it when it's presented that way. so since we seem to be trying to make nice here, let's allow that there is more than one way to skin a cat (with my apologies to the cat).

 

The art vs engineering .... I don't think this is a real conflict

The truth is probably engineering vs unexplained science.

Hypermiling is just one of many activities that are occasionally so complex they have not been fully explained, so they are described as art or talent, etc.