While most hybrids are said to use one to two litres of fuel per 100km, a study claims they need six litres on average
Plug-in hybrid electric cars (PHEVs) use much more fuel on the road than officially stated by their manufacturers, a large-scale analysis of about a million vehicles of this type has shown.
The Fraunhofer Institute carried out what is thought to be the most comprehensive study of its kind to date, using the data transmitted wirelessly by PHEVs from a variety of manufacturers while they were on the road.
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According to the study, the vehicles require on average six litres per 100km, or about 300%, more fuel to run than previously cited.
The scientists of the Fraunhofer Institute found that the main reason for the higher-than-stated fuel usage was due precisely to the fact that the PHEVs use two different modes, the electric engine and the combustion engine, switching between both. Until now it has been claimed by manufacturers that the vehicles used only a little or almost no fuel when in the electric mode. The studies showed that this was not in fact the case.
plug in hybrids are impossible to properly quantity fuel usage. because unlike normal cars where you estimate highway/urban use, now you have to also consider EV/ICE use.
if you rarely use the engine, then your fuel usage is negligible. while if you mostly drive it like s hybrid and never charge it, it’ll be just as good as a comparable hybrid.
Statistics exist, taking a sample of thousands of PHEV drivers and examining fuel consumption is exactly what we can do to quantify fuel usage. And the reality is that, on average, they use up more fuel than my 2006 diesel I got for 2000€. For the vast majority of people, PHEV are just a scam
Do you know why diesels are no longer made? It’s not just about fuel consumption. They are filthy oil burners sold illegally on faked data and you are wearing it like a badge of honor. Read.
Not a badge of honor, I’ve participated in climate research in my career, I’m fully aware of the pollution issues of Diesel cars regarding particulate matter and nitrous oxides. What do I do about it: I don’t drive it in cities. I only use my car for trips that take me between towns that have no solid public transit communication (which is unfortunately the case for many towns near Madrid among each other). The nitrous oxide impact is mostly local and, if you look at NO2 pollution maps, the problem is pretty contained within cities, so driving it far from urban centres has a lot less of an impact. As for climate change effect, it has a similar effect to the average contemporary hybrid cars per the study, and the fact that I bought it used means I’m not stimulating the production of new cars, which produces a ton of emissions, instead I’m spending my money locally fixing the car, which is arguably more sustainable than buying new ones with similar fuel consumption.
acreage is meant to give you an estimate of how much is it going to cost you, if it is off by 20% based on you doing now highway than the average, that’s fine.
but if it’s off by 100%? that’s useless.
also, averages only works if the data falls under a normal distribution. if you have people charging their cars at night, and others who don’t, that is not a normal distribution amd averages are useless
Averages don’t only work if data falls under a normal distribution. I can have two very non-Gaussian distributions for fuel usage of two vehicle types but one of them has much lower fuel consumption than the other, I can vouch for the lower one using the average alone.
for plug in hybrids, they should give you average fuel consumption for hybrid use only AND EV range. Trying to get a total average use is useless and removes all the important information.
I had a plugin hybrid once, rarely used it for trips that needed fuel. if your daily driving fits in the EV range, then you don’t really care about fuel consumption.
This article is less important for individual consumers (whose fuel usage varies wildly depending on their needs and their routines) but it’s extremely important for policy: PHEVs have a very similar climate change result on average than my 2006 diesel car.