Comments on: The Wright way to the electric car

For Ian Wright and his start-up, the poster car for electric-powered rides isn't the Prius--it's the gas guzzler.

[daviddailey]

There are so many things wrong with his reasoning.

Does the Toyota Prius get 40 mpg at 12 miles an hour?

[daviddailey]

More reasoning

Unfortunately, I can't edit a post...
An engine at a low throttle is using less fuel because the air is less dense, so less fuel needs to flow. Compression ratio is always the same, what changes is the density of the air coming in the cylinder. The engine is more efficient when there is less fuel flowing (lower throttle).
A 200 hp engine is capable of operating at 12hp and using the fuel-flow of a 12hp engine.
An engine at half throttle at sea level (15" of mercury manifold pressure) has the same air density, power, and fuel flow as a full-throttle engine at 18000 feet. So is that considered a vacuum?
In my opinion, poor driving habits are the biggest factor in efficiency. What a hybrid car does is compensate for bad driving habits where over-braking will charge a battery, and over-accelerating will discharge the battery.
Plug-in hybrids won't save the environment unless power plants can burn coal/natural gas or dam rivers without any effect on the environment.

[Reachstacker]

a bit confused

I guess he was trying to make a point. It seems easy enough to confuse details.
Although, why an Austin 7 ? My 1959 Lloyd Alexander TS got 4o mpg @ 51 mph (82 km/h), with a top speed of 67mph (110km/h)stated fuel consumption was 235 grams hp/hour.
That is right in the manual LOL
In general I would agree with the man, the more uneven the power demand on a machine the more sense a hybrid makes.
Since the drive train has to be overbuild for the top output.
But, just as good, or better candidates for this, rather than another useless sports car produced in small numbers would be commercial vehicles that do a lot of stop n go.
Like: UPS, Fedex, Postal, Schoolbuses and garbage trucks.
Currently Oshkosh truck together with Cummins and Parker has 2 of those running in NYC with fuel savings in the 50% range. Albeit the hybrid part on these trucks is hydraulic rather than electric. The principle is the same.
Considering the size and daily use of these fleets across the nation you'd be talking "real money" and pollution saved,rather than a couple millionaires buing another over priced sports car that would sit mostly in the garage...
Personally I would prefer all electric but that gets us right back to the battery issue...