Comments on: A MPGe Smackdown

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 10:35:00 +0000

If you’d like to write a guest post on any of this, shoot me an email at: zach@importantmedia.org

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 10:35:00 +0000

Of course, there are other reasons to evaluate MPG/MPGe. But from the average consumer perspective, like your idea.

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 06:15:00 +0000

I agree High. I’ve started making that point years ago. Forget trying to convert EV/PHEV cost of operation into miles per gallon numbers.

Give people an app in which they can input their cost of electricity during the hours they are likely to charge. Give them a “pennies per mile” number and the equivalent numbers for a representative gasmobiles.

In the case of PHEVs let people input some estimates of how many miles they drive beyond the battery range.

By: High Above Texas

High Above Texas — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 05:51:00 +0000

I own a Volt, had a couple of airplanes and I also own a pickup, a Malibu ECO and some other assorted vehicles…
The easiest and most practical thing to do is to toss all the malarkey about MPGe and any other convoluted formula out the window and just work this as “MPD”..
(Miles Per Dollar…) Nothing I have ever owned now or in the past is as inexpensive to take from point “A” to point “B” as my Volt. I am at 7,300 miles now, I have owned my Volt since June 5, 2012 and as I log this comment on 1-19-2013, I stiil have not yet put a drop of gasoline in my Volt, because it runs so inexpensively on an electric charge from my residence…

You can follow my progress on my Flickr account. I won’t provide a link, but just Google this “Chevrolet Volt Flickr, Southwest USA” and you should easily find my photos and stories… I plan on making a video of the very first time I do put gas in my Volt, sometime later this year, so “stay tuned…”

By: Energy Guru

Energy Guru — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 17:02:00 +0000

To get the best out of vehicle comparisons the cost of the vehicle needs to be dropped. The cost is a choice, some would choose a million dollar super car others public transit. A simple way without getting overly geeky is cost per mile. Then 13,000 avg miles p/year divided by 25 avg mpg X $3.50 per/gal = $1820 per/yr or 14 cents per mile.

Volt owners frequently talk about 1,000+ MPG because the drive within their battery range. Based on $1.50 per charge with 50 mile range it comes to 13,000 miles divided by 50 miles p/charge = 260 charges X $1.50 = $390 p/y or 3 cents per mile. Close to 1/5th the cost.

Something that is not looked at is integrating home and transportation cost into the equation. A high performance home that supplies enough energy to run a home and a vehicle like the Volt are being built today at no extra cost.

A homeowner after Sandy ran his house from his Prius for 2 weeks on a half tank of gas. As Bucky Fuller liked to say “If you can’t find the answer to a question ask a bigger question.”

By: Pete

Pete — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 14:20:00 +0000

We need the same thing for generator efficiency. My 2Kw gasoline pure sine wave generator is one of the more efficient small generators on the market and at a 1Kw. output will produce 4 Kwh per gallon A gasoline conversion efficiency of 4/34 or about 12%.

It is almost impossible to compare various models on the market as they typically give run time per tank of gas with no indication how large that tank is or what power output they are using.

The EPA standard would be very useful here.

By: Eugene

Eugene — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 21:04:00 +0000

I wish the EPA would get ride of MPG all together. But MPGe is even worse. I would rather see W/km for efficiency of electric cars and l/000km for gasoline cars and just show both for hybrids. But I agree that Range is something that should be emphasized equally.