So, it seems the last two days of driving has been better to go then to come back.
Friday, going to work and whatnot, 40.8 MPG via SGII (Scanguage II)
Saturday, going out to dinner, 40.4 MPG via SGII
Friday, coming home, 38.7 MPG ”
Saturday, coming home, 37.8 MPG ”
While it’s mostly the weather, the light sequence has been changed a bit due to power outages, I didn’t have a good light sequence timed run tonight. Blech. So much for a solid over 40 MPG tank…
Well, I’m a bit surprised. Gas prices surged here overnight. It was $3.93 on Wednesday when I was out (though I didn’t get gas, I still had 300 MTE [Miles to Empty]), and then on Friday it was $4.25.
Why? No one seems to really know other then something nebulous to do with the Stock Market. Well, that’s just dandy isn’t it? A 32 cent price jump overnight because. Seems to me that pre-Katrina a 32 cent price jump would’ve met with disasterous outcry. Now, it’s a shake of the head.
Even with my frugal hybrid, I’m being worried about the cost of longer trips, like my upcoming trip/vacation to Hybridfest, it costs more every year to go just on gas money.
Read what happened at the hearing by clicking here
”Deborah Kent Stein, Representing the National Federation of the Blind, spoke first reading from a prepared statement. It was interesting that her statement included a criticism of electronic system and mentioned being dependent upon batteries. It was the first time I heard what sounded like real requirements, something we have needed all along, not a fixed solution. She also cited the kid who claims he was hit by a hybrid because he didn’t hear it. Finally, she claimed that if hybrids weren’t equipped with noise makers, the blind would be confined to their homes, unable to venture out.”
What? WHAT? Really? If hybrids weren’t equipped with noise makers, the blind would be confined to their homes. Why? Let’s go to the fact sheet:
Number of blind people killed in a year by noisey cars = 4700+
Number of blind people killed in a year by a hybrid = 0
In 10 (Ten) years of hybrids on the road, not one of them has killed a blind person.
So, other then as an etherial boogeyman, how are hybrids so dangerous that by not installing noisemakers would they be a threat to the blind?
Okay, moving on.
At this nice hearing, which had Representatives from the National Federation of the Blind, American Council for the Blind, and American Foundation for the Blind, how many hybrid experts and owners were invited to speak? None. That’s right, they’re hoping to make a law concerning a group without letting said group have any representation. Seems to me this country fought a war over being taxed without representation!
Now, it seems to me, that if this law does pass, it won’t change anything for us, the current hybrid owner. After all, wouldn’t we be grandfathered in? Model T owners don’t need airbags or seatbelts to drive their T, why should I have a noisemaker now? Or are you going to change the nature of the grandfather clause?
All right, so, I’ll admit it, I can be persuaded to be in favor of HR 5734. All I want are two changes:
1. ALL VEHICLES MUST BE EQUIPPED WITH NOISEMAKERS FOR THE BLIND.
2. THE GOVERNMENT PAYS FOR ALL NOISEMAKERS.
Like that’ll happen.
Again, HR 5734 isn’t fixing any problems, in fact, I suggest that any idea to help the blind should be universally helpful. Like for instance, all the blind, when they leave their homes, should wear neon yellow reflective clothes, and a safety helmet with a white and red strobe light on top. That way, everyone knows they’re blind, and can give them some leeway. See, with my idea, the blind could be safe from every motor vehicle, bicycle, and other potential harmful fast moving object! Of course, the blind should pay for the vest and helmet. And should be heavily fined if their helmet doesn’t work. After all, how many blind people do I see in a day on the road? None. How many motorized vehicle does a blind person encounter a day? A lot more then none! Let’s put the safety devices where it’ll do the most preventative good, right? After all, you don’t put a “Caution: Bridge may be icey when cold” sign in the middle of a street, right?
Click Here for the Complete USA Today Article
“The entry classes cover a wide range of hybrids, from tiny Insights to one for the guy bringing a new Chevy Tahoe full-size SUV hybrid that is government rated at 21 mpg. “He’s pretty sure he can get 35,” says Eric Powers, who is organizing the event as part of the Dane County Fair.”
That crazy guy is me. I’m actually aiming for 40 MPG with the MPG Course. I’ll also be running it in my Ford Escape Hybrid. Last year, I was delayed by a train (It turns out I could’ve rerun the course just for that), took a wrong turn, and then got worried about making it back in time and scored 46.7 MPG on the course. My Vehicle is rated 27 MPG, so a mere 173% of EPA. This year, I intend not to have those problems, have a Scanguage II to help me out, and since my vehicle is another year older, it’s another year better. (No joke, this year has seen my best tanks so far as a year as a whole.)
Additionally, when I test drove a Yukon Hybrid, I did so in February in the rain, in 4WD mode, on a far more aggressive course, got over 30 MPG. So, my faith isn’t misplaced really. However, we’ll see what happens in July, won’t we?
Just some fun, this is from NAIAS (North American International Auto Show) 2008, from Tang Hua’s display of one of their three electric cars, eloquently named “Book of Songs”. Enjoy!
One thing that amuses me is how people (myself included) feel a kind of rage at GM after they see the documentry, “Who Killed The Electric Car”. It’s a beautiful documentry about an automotive travesty, that we had a viable electric car for the 21st Century, and a decade later, we don’t, as gas prices quadruple and show little signs of slowing down.
However, years later, the Honda Insight, the most fuel efficient car on the road vanished from the showrooms, replaced by nothing, and there’s not even a whimper. The Honda Insight, EPA MPG rated 48/58 manual or 45/49 Automatic stopped production due to low sales. Now, those numbers may not seem so extreme, except for the fact that with an Insight, many drivers had lifetime averages above that. How far? Try lifetime averages in high 70’s. That’s right, there were a number of drivers who could get 100 MPG with it. At Hybridfest, the biggest Hybrid Car gathering in North America, MPG Challengers in Insights saw well over 112 MPG. However, much like the EV1, it vanished from production, to be replaced with nothing.
Now don’t get me wrong, the Insight was a fine vehicle in terms of the pure MPGs, but it wasn’t without it’s shortcomings either, which undoubtedly helped with it’s demise. For one thing, it was tiny. In the era of the SUV, a car that can’t seat 4 wasn’t on many buyers lists. Additionally, hybrid fanatics were quick to bring up the IMA’s shortcomings. IMA, or Integrated Motor Assist, is Honda’s Hybrid Platform. Essentially it works as a gasoline engine that has an electric assist. Against Toyota, Ford, Chrysler, BMW, and GM’s HSD/Dualmode system, which worked on the reverse notion, that it should be an electric vehicle with a gasoline engine assist, IMA couldn’t offer the electric drive at low speeds and powerless coasting that it’s rival hybrid technology could. Additionally, whereas HSD/Dualmode worked just fine if not better in larger vehicles like the Tahoe as it did in a Prius, IMA didn’t offer palpable benefits in larger vehicles, prompting Honda to decide to redesign their hybrid offerings in the future.
None of that changes the fact that gas is expensive, and fuel efficient hybrid cars seem to be in short supply. Honda could be making a killing with the Insight today. If only they had the Insight to produce it.
I’ll admit it, I’ve been a fan of Ford. It’s mostly due to Nurture, my family worked for Ford, I fall under the A plan discount, and my parents for all the time I was growing up owned Ford vehicles. One was lemonish, but close to thirty years of good Ford product and a discount will sort of bias you in their favor. I even went to Fordfests as a kid, the employee family picnics back in the day. I’m a huge fan of the Ford Escape Hybrid, which is why I wrote a FAQ for the vehicle at Green Hybrid, because it’s such a well designed hybrid that came along at the right time. However, it’s partly because I wanted to see them do well that I’ve become so frustrated with them. At this point, they could’ve been a strong contender with Toyota in the fuel efficient and hybrid market, instead it’s GM who’s taking their spot.
While any company could do anything, let’s look at the facts and the timeline:
In October of 2005, gas prices were about $1.80. I attended an event called the “Ford Escape Hybrid Experience” in Dearborn Michigan, on the Ford grounds, an event hosted by the engineers who designed the Ford Escape Hybrid. I had a great time, had an engineer assigned to me for the day, and any question I had about the Escape Hybrid was answered by the engineer who designed the system. It was a lot of fun to get the inside scoop. We got to learn more about the hybrid technology, had myths debunked, and got an “inside scoop” into Fords plans to carry out their hybrid program. The Mercury Mariner Hybrid, twin of the Escape would come later that year, 2006 would get the Fusion and Milan Hybrids as well as the release of the third sibling of the Mariner and Escape, The Mazda Tribute Hybrid, 2007 would see the Edge and another larger vehicle hybridized. At the Experience, we got a first hand look at the Ford Fusion, which wasn’t released yet, and a first drive of the Mercury Mariner Hybrid. It was a great event, I had a lot of fun, and was rather optimistic of the future.
Oh silly, naive me.
Not long after that, there was a nearly palpable shift in Ford Motor Company. Mary Ann Wright, head of the Hybrid programs left Ford for undisclosed reasons. Ford suddenly backed out of their national commercial promise of 250,000 Hybrids on the road by 2010, making a claim of having the same number of E85 capable vehicles on the road by the same date. The Fusion and Milan Hybrids vanished from Fordvehicles.com’s website under the upcoming models. Rumors started circulating, that all hybrid projects had been shut down at Ford.
2006 came and went. Gas prices rose to $2.70. The Mercury Mariner Hybrid saw it’s release, but the Mazda Tribute Hybrid vanished much like the Fusion and Milan Hybrids, seeming to linger in the same development hell that was rumored to have happened.
2007, gas prices rose again to $2.80. The Mazda Tribute Hybrid saw an extremely limited release in California only. When asked about it, Mazda had said that there was a stranglehold on getting hybrid batteries and transmissions, that the Escape and Mariner were getting top priority and the Mazda Tribute Hybrid would be released where “It could do the most good.” Still, there was a moratorium on all other hybrid projects. In the later months of the year, spy shots picked up a parking lot of 50 Fusion Hybrids in a parking lot near Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn, MI. The next week they were gone, and Ford still had no comment about them. Ford won car of the year in Europe with the S-MAX, an updated version of the Focus, which it deemed too expensive to retool the Focus plants to release in North America. Demand for the Escape and Mariner Hybrids outstripped supply and waiting lists started to pop up, as well as stories from buyers about crossing state lines to get their new hybrid. But what about those batteries? You decide to have a bidding process to choose a new battery manufacturer. Several compete, including JCI, who offers a program with Li-Ion batteries, an upgrade platform, and a variety of batteries to suit your needs. Who do you chose? Delphi. A company that was owned by GM, is in bankruptcy, and doesn’t make batteries!
In early 2008, gas prices rose further to $3 for a gallon. At NAIAS, the North American International Auto Show, Ford listed the Fusion and Milan Hybrids in their presentation on screen, but had no information in the press packets, no dialogue about them in the presentation, no models on display, and in individual interviewing with Ford people, they could only state that it was supposed to come out this year. However, they were anything but shy, and quite shameless in promoting their new F-150, showing off now less then 8 different models/trims to it, and touting it’s unparalleled ability to tow. The Plug-In Escape Hybrid, the drool inspring vehicle to nearly every current hybrid owner was there, for show only, of course. A few months later, gas prices would surge over $3 as specs for the 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid came out. It would have a more economic engine, with their Eco-tec engines. So, better fuel economy, right? WRONG! Instead, they chose to beef up the vehicles horsepower at the cost of fuel economy, to keep an “even tradeoff”, the EPA numbers would remain unchanged. You’ve got the worlds most fuel efficient SUV, with GM poising to take that title away from you with the upcoming Saturn Vue with Dualmode Hybrid technology, and instead of boosting your vehicles MPG as gas prices surge without restraint, you decide that more horsepower is the way to go?
Oh, but it gets better, doesn’t it? Just a week later, as gas prices surge to $3.50 a gallon, articles emerge where you candidly talk about how Ford Motor Company is deliberately limiting the number of Hybrids they’re producing. It’s not because, as it was in the past, a limit on batteries or transmissions, going so far as to state, “We can get all the batteries we want.”, and that you only want 25,000 batteries, because in order to increase hybrid production (Building more then 25,000) you’d have to limit production of vehicles that offer larger profit margins. But wait, there’s more! When gas prices hit $4 a gallon, Toyota starts complaining that it’s running out of Hybrid batteries. What do you do? You join in, whining about how production is limited and you’re constrained to 25,000, and can’t build anymore due to the shortage!
Ah, but then we get to the big event. Last week, you announce that you’re going to delay your new F-150’s, that you’re closing plants, and you’re in dire woes because you can’t seem to give away those large vehicles. You comment about how you’d like to build more fuel efficient smaller cars and hybrids, though the later is capped now. You worry about your financial future. Well, what did you think was going to happen?!? Did you really and honestly believe that gas prices were going to fall like a comet back to .99 cents per gallon? Did you think that people weren’t going to start choosing less thirsty behemoths when week after week they dump $200 at the pump? Did you think that upside-down loans weren’t going to burn you as well? (Upside-down loans are when the vehicle has more on the loan then it’s value is; ex. An F-150 was purchased with a loan, and the owner still owes $35,000 on it. The F-150’s current appraised value is $10,000 is an upside-down loan.)
Let’s face it, your woes are nothing but your own fault. You believed that people would ignorantly continue buying large trucks and muscle cars regardless of what happened to gas prices or the economy. You believed that building 11 different F-150’s was a wiser idea then building 2 different hybrid models, or even bringing over the S-MAX. You develop and show off the Reflex (A Diesel/Electric Hybrid concept vehicle), but kill it. You backed out of your hybrid promise, and now that gas is more then double what is is when you did that, did you really expect nothing to happen to the economy or would effect how people live and buy cars?
Honestly, your attitude is pretty well defined by your actions this year. You’ve backed out of Hybridfest, the largest gathering of fuel efficient minded people, despite a strong showing last year. You’ve refused to show any interest in having a Ford Escape Hybrid race around the world in The Great Race 2009. From what was posted at a Ford fan website, the Fusion Hybrid will get released, next year, as a limited model!
Why do I have this sick feeling that your plans to turn Ford Motor Company around involve lowering the price and offering more models of F-150’s then, you know, building competitive vehicles and regaining lost market share?
Why is it that Toyota and GM can both put out 4 new hybrids in the last 3 years, but you can’t? Why is it that even with $4 gas, there’s still no talk of bringing successful overseas vehicles to America, like the S-MAX, or even better yet, why not hybridize the S-MAX and release it as a Prius killing domestic vehicle? My mother, who has owned a Maverick, several Escorts, and a Focus, bought a new car this year. At my urging, it was a Toyota Prius. She loves it, and she loves the mileage. Expect to hear that kind of story in the future.
A lot.
So, it seems that after three years, there is some actual traction to “Bell the Hybrid”. For those unaware, the idea is that hybrid, full electric, Hydrogen, and any other sufficiently quiet automobile is a threat to the blind, and legislation is in the works to force all these quiet vehicles to emit the same noise as “noisey” automobiles. This is, as every one of you should realize, a terrible idea. This isn’t just a bad idea for a handful of hybrid owners who like to sneak up on unsuspecting pedestrians, but for every single taxpayer in America.
Let’s start with the pertinant fact: 5000 Blind people were killed in the last year by said “noisey” vehicles, making the same noise levels or more then congress wants all quiet vehicles to make, so how does this actually fix the “problem”? The answer is, it doesn’t, it’s the legislative equivalent of painting a wall with a shotgun.
Then let’s move on to the fact that this isn’t an issue, or at least it isn’t as of this writing. This isn’t in reaction to a problem, this is in fervered anticipation of a problem. That’s correct, no blind person has been injured by a quiet car!
Now, let’s move on to this messey legislation, and how it effects the taxpayer, hybrid owning or not. First of all, who’s going to pay to bell the quiet car with noisemakers? There are more then a million “quiet” cars on the road. If the government is paying for it, even at five dollars a unit, that’s more then five million dollars to ”solve” a problem that hasn’t happened yet! If it’s the owners costs, then there will undoubtedly be outcry from said owners (myself) included, a sudden increase in violations of the law, and additional court and legal fights. But the legal fun isn’t over yet! So, after having paid millions of dollars to noisey up Americas quiet cars, what happens when, just like the 5000 who were killed by a noisey car, a noise making quiet car hits or kills a blind person? Now it’s a federal law suit, since the government failed to make it noisey enough! Millions more down the drain! And where does that money come from? You, the tax payer! So, you pay twice for this act of legislation, once to “bell the hybrids”, and then again when their solution doesn’t solve anything. Plus, heaven help you if the legislation isn’t sound, and you’re kept up by noise making quiet cars who are now making a terrible racket instead of near silence!
Now, I’m not unsympathetic to the blind, but there are a lot of alternative solutions, including ways to protect the blind against all motor vehicles, not just “quiet” ones. Additionally, safe driving is the responsibility of the driver, at all times. So be careful out there people!
HR 5734 – Bad for you, bad for America, Bad for the blind.
Unfortunately, due to some pressing needs, I ran some errands today. I got caught in a shower, and some rush hour traffic, which diminished my tank MPG below 40 MPG for the tank, but I’ve still got some 330+ miles to fix that. According to the Scanguage, I averaged 36.7 MPG today. Not too bad I suppose.
http://www.markfiore.com/lord_petro_0
A sad but honest look at the state of the world today. We’ve grown so completely and utterly dependant on oil it really is our truest religion.
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