Hybrid Cars Flunk with a Passing Grade

NO MO MILES

I first heard about the overestimated efficiency of hybrid cars from Kristi after she attended a lecture on "green" products at the Field Museum. Apparently, the cars use a similar amount of fuel as regular cars across for the first few miles of driving.

But, Wired reports that even the long trip fuel efficiency is bogus. Consumers have found the cars, which were reported to get nearly 50 miles per gallon, seldom top 30 miles per gallon.

30!!!

The Toyota Prius is on the high end at a still disappointing 35, while the Honda Civic Hybrid gets only 26!

For comparison purposes, the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) for passenger cars is 27.5 mpg; it is 20.7 mpg for light trucks (SUVs, etc).

The problem - and you can read about this in the Wired article - is that the EPA standards measure waste substances from fuel consumption not the actual use of fuel. I'm no physicist nor automotive expert, so I can't tell you why that throws off the tests for hybrids... but needless to say, it apparently does.