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Originally Posted by Disco
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And what case is that?
The numbers generated by the EPA are not numbers meant to be reproduced in the real world. They are meant as a
abstract yardstick number for comparison with different technologies, different drivers drive styles , different goals set and made by the automotive manufacturers.
In the case of the EPA, they take two different vehicles , put one pint of the exact same petro in their gas tanks, and run them through two scenarios, one town one highway. They usually put these vehicles on a dyno for the best controlled environment, insuring reproducability, within limits.
The hybrids are more efficient, provided the owner also changes his style of driving. If you are going to drive the same way you drive a conventional combustion vehicle, you will be disappointed. You can't use a leadfoot with any vehicle and get 50 mpg.
Nobody, individually nor a group, drive exactly the same route nor the same speed everyday. It is unrealistic.
When was the last time you had to reproduce the measure known as a meter? At one time, it was two marks on a bar of special metal stored in the Naval Observatory at Greenwich, UK. Now, it is the number of oscilllations of specific piece of matter at a specific temperature.
Never, right? Yet we use measures of length without question. It is a agreed upon
STANDARD.
These numbers are for abstract comparison only and should be based versus your driving style.
This is what happens when "educated" individuals read a newspaper. The truth is usually penalized as the expense of the function of a newspaper, who first function is, not to give the truth, but to sell newspapers.
If you believe everything published in a daily rag, you deserve everything that happens to you. If newspapers were the bastions of truth that they say they are, why don't they publish their retractions with the same zeal and fontsize they publish their "truths" of the day?
The original reasonale for the source of this thread is of my belief that the Land Rover is one of those target technologies that would benefit the most with a hybrid transplant.
In the next few years, we will see more efficient, smaller and torquier electric motors, lighter energy storage technologies, and more efficient transmissions that would make the Land Rover the envy of any onroad or offroad application.
But it won't come for the private sector of auto manufacturers. It is going to come from us.
Adam in NYC
