Only work if you can be bothered to recharge them and drivers can't be bothered. Who'd ah thunked it.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
Hybrid cars
(13 posts)-
Posted 5 years ago #
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They should reduce fuel consumption a bit by having the electric motor help out when accelerating and the battery recharge when the engine is under low strain or when braking? They can also reduce pollution locally if switched to fully electric mode at appropriate times, but that requires user effort. Like you say, ideally hybrids would be charged regularly and driven primarily using their battery and motor though. Workplace charging points could help to encourage people to do this more?
Posted 5 years ago # -
Hybrid cars no longer receive a UK government subsidy now in any case https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-autos/uk-to-cut-hybrid-car-subsidies-idUKKCN1MM0P2
Posted 5 years ago # -
I presume the OP is talking about plug-in hybrids i.e. those that can do around 10 to 30 miles on electric only.
Obviously, the cost of petrol is too low if owners can’t be bothered recharging, since running on electric only would be virtually free in terms of fuel.
Ordinary hybrids (i.e not plug-in) are meant to be run like normal cars & indeed cannot be charged by the user
Posted 5 years ago # -
Can plug-in hybrids not generate any energy from the engine or braking? I had assumed that the only difference to non plug-in hybrids was the ability to top the battery up without driving.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I think the story relates to fleet cars? As data can be acquired from companies about this, individuals on the other hand might not be factually accurate when asked as they would perhaps feel they were supposed to be doing this rather than filling up at the petrol station. More docking sttions might help?
Posted 5 years ago # -
Do you have a link to the story?
Posted 5 years ago # -
Posted 5 years ago #
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Thanks frenchy, I heard story on radio so missed bit about charging cables never even being unwrapped
Posted 5 years ago # -
The cars will still be massively cleaner than the diesels they most likely replaced lower in nox and pms most hybrids have fairly small petrol engines .
Posted 5 years ago # -
We have used a PHEV for the last year and have never used the charging cable that comes with the car. The car is, however, charged at least once a day because we have a home charging unit and make use of CHAdeMO tethered charging points when at large. The supplied cable is designed for plugging into a standard 13A socket so is of no use at public charging points. For these you need to purchase a car specific cable which costs c£150 and which would considerably eat into any savings made from any reduced fuel consumption.
Posted 5 years ago # -
I saw an advert for a 'self-charging' hybrid car (possibly a Toyota) during last night's Formula 1 race highlights on Channel 4. So that's just a standard hybrid? Such a marketing angle suggests to me that they must think that the public thinks that having to plug a car in to charge it is inconvenient, which tends to correlate with the findings reported in the BBC story, although the issue of there being different cables for different types of charging, as fiefster mentions, is maybe giving a false impression of a lack of plugging-in of 'plug-in' hybrids, although multiple cables will also contribute to the inconvenience...
Posted 5 years ago # -
"data from The Miles Consultancy, a Cheshire firm which advises 300 blue-chip companies on fuel management, reveals that many businesses simply used the grant to save on buying regular cars."
What a surprise!
"The charge cables are still in the boot, in a cellophane wrapper, while the company and the employee are going in and out of petrol stations, paying for all of this additional fuel.
This practice, he added, was "ridiculous".---
"We have got some situations where company drivers are choosing the vehicle based on their tax liability, rather than having the right vehicle for the right job."
Some companies, he explained, were buying PHEVs - which are best suited to local trips - for employees who did a lot of motorway driving.---
Posted 5 years ago #
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