Featured Hybrids to combat pollution and global warming

That was mostly because of emission standards. CAFE only measures fuel economy. Without it, all cars would be less efficient today as the public doesn't really care about MPG with cheap gas.

 

And without CAFE, followed by the EPA MPG scores (which originally were just the CAFE numbers), we wouldn't have MPG ratings that are honest or meaningful or even comparable between manufacturers. Rather, we'd just have unrealistically high numbers that some company hypermilers achieved somewhere, possibly even on some remote slightly downhill road with a tailwind.

 

But now we have better engines needing less maintenance, better fuel economy and national security (at least from energy extortion), and breathable air.

And also slower climate change than if CAFE didn't happen.

Was it from the regulation itself? Or was it because cost-cutting cheaters undercut the honest ones and shoved them out of the market?

 

We might have had diesel Hondas if not for VW's cheating.

The only thing government regulations did against diesels was hold them up to the same ones for gasoline cars while letting gas cars get a pass on particulates.

 

CAFE to me Political MPG.
Congress wants to say we need impossible high MPG, but if you cannot do the impossoible, we give you big CAFE credits for various forms of policaltically correct behavior favoted by Congress.. And don;t mess with SUV's/trucks.

 

not many care. without government intervention, it will never get done

 

It is already getting done with the market expansion of Stop-Start systems. So far, much more so in Europe than here, but expanding here too.

 

we only have 9 more years...

 

We don't idle in Virginia, did not realize Californians were idling so darn much reading emails.
But if the math shows this is substantial issue, OK. We are about to ban cell-phone-holding-in-car in Va., so maybe we see uptick too..

 

I wonder how scientifically it was calculated - 5 million vehicles?
Yes, idling (engine running) when vehicle is not moving is a total waste of fuel.
Even more wasting is revving the engine while stopped to show off.

 

Back in the day i was told an idling engine consumes the same amount of fuel as driving 45 mph.
Granted in those days engines had carburetors fwiw.

 

It's actually hard to find good information about idle fuel consumption (and it obviously depends on the size of the engine). I camped in my Toyota 4runner with it idling once. It was something like -10 F outside. As far as I could estimate ahead of time it would use about 0.5-1 gallons per hour. I think it was closer to 0.5 gph, but extended idling seemed to confuse the range estimate and maybe the fuel gauge. As I started driving the range and amount of fuel indicated dropped fairly quickly.

It normally gets 17mpg, but peak efficiency seems to be around 50 mph, where it might manage 19-21 mpg. At lower speeds it's lower. Driving off road I get more like 12-14 mpg, and the average speed is probably less than 20 mph. Assuming it gets 10mpg at 10mph, that's 1 gallon per hour.

 

My 2.5L Subarus, present (2014) and past (1997), once warmed up and AC compressor not running, orbit around 0.25 gal/hr as indicated by a ScanGauge-II.

At 45 mph, I'm not sure I could keep the current unit to just 1.0 gal/hr under the best conditions. Possibly at the elevations of Colorado, but not down here at sea level.

During warmup, I see my Prius get down to 0.20 gal/hr before the ICE shuts off with auto-stop. I haven't yet tried to check it in a forced continuous idle, but that might be a good exercise to test with Neutral.

 

even priuschat members buy remote starters

 

Except that the Forester Hybrid is only a 24 volt Mild Hybrid - with far less effect on economy expected than a RAV4 Full Hybrid.

 

and yet - things ARE changing slowly. Hybrid RAV4 now starting to outsell the Prius. As for more people buying SUVs, that doesn't necessarily mean that BIGGER cars are the biggest criminals. Consider the above-mentioned RAV4, as well as its soon-to-be-released plug-in version, as well as vehicles like the plug-in Pacifica minivan, mitsu Outlander plugin, Ford Escape hybrid, Lexus RX Hybrid, Models X & S, Highlander Hybrid, & a slew of ev pickups about to hit the markets. Bigger - yet no idle - to no gas at all.
Just because it's bigger, doesn't mean it can't beat EPA/CAFE standards of much smaller vehicles.

.

 

RAV4 plug-in might be a hit, as far as I can see, there is no downside like loss of cargo space.
So could be the first Toyota plug-in like the orig Gen2 Prius was not compromised by squeezing in the battery to a car design not ready for it.. I wanna Rav4 hybrid but do not know about my better half she is a Camry person.