Hyped brids?

My question arises out of the discrepancy revealed by all road tests I have seen between official fuel consumption figures of hybrid cars and those found by road testers. These appear to be far larger than those for ordinary petrol or diesel cars. Is it perhaps that during the official cycle the hybrid cars use some of their battery power, which is not replaced? It would appear to me that accurate comparisons with other cars could only be made if the battery of a hybrid is charged to the same extent at the end of the test as at the beginning. If my thoughts are nonsense, I don't understand why a colleague's Prius returns 45mpg whilst, under similar circumstances and with similar driving styles, our 1.5 dci Scenic returns better than 60mpg in spite of the Prius having a lower CO2/km rating.

Asked on 13 June 2009 by

Answered by Honest John

You are probably right. From a cold start a hybrid can get going solely on electric power. (Well, a Prius can.) And, using the blue/green dash and watching the pot plants grow a Honda Insight can be driven very economically. There should be more emphasis on the fact that hybrids make the most sense in cities. They are almost like electric cars with petrol engines as well so they can run cleanly in cities but also do the distance if necessary. Modern diesel cars are hopeless in cities because they clog their particulate filters. I got 49 overall over 6 months with A PRIUS II. I've had over 60 out of my Focus Econetic 110, but the average has now dropped to about 55 over a year. (The Econetic 110 is supposed to do 58.9 combined.)

Tags: fuel economy hybrid regulations co2 emissions owning

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