Toyota Prius

[aczlan]

The lobbies will stop any innovation that threatens the big car manufacturers or oil companies.
I have started looking into "brown's gas" or hydrogen generator for cars. The whole idea is to make more of the fuel usable. It is relatively simple, add hydrogen to the intake and adjust O2 sensor feedback to stop the computers from negating increased efficiency.

Might want to double check the sources on that...

HHO on-demand did not reduce diesel consumption in any of the rates at either load trialled.
As the rate of HHO production increased so did the energy required to run the electrolyser, resulting in a net loss.
Increased fuel consumption almost linearly increased with an increase in HHO injection.
Only with 10% water injection at 30% engine load and no HHO, was a 2.5% reduction in fuel consumption recorded (Figure 21).

Aaron Z

 

[two_bit_score]

Yes that is on public gravel road. and my 1/2 mile driveway. The blacktop roads are ok here, but a rabbit can cave in the front grill and get stuck between the grill and the radiator.


And yes Txdot is converting some blacktop roads to gravel but thankfully not in this county.

The conversion to gravel roads is in some south Texas counties where they are seeing a lot of heavy truck traffic due to development of the Eagle Ford Shale. There is no reasonable way to maintain the roads otherwise for now.

Once most development is done they will be repaved.

.

 

[powerpace]

Yes that is on public gravel road. and my 1/2 mile driveway. The blacktop roads are ok here, but a rabbit can cave in the front grill and get stuck between the grill and the radiator.


And yes Txdot is converting some blacktop roads to gravel but thankfully not in this county.

Roads are ok here. Lots of mountain roads paved and unpaved. I have a 1/4 mile gravel road. The deer, turkeys and racoon are a problem. The fifty miles from here to the coast are a hazard with a bear or cougar hit once in awhile. In the Dean Creek Elk viewing area Elk have the right of way, if you see them in time.

Dean Creek Elk Viewing Area, Elk in Oregon

 

[DarkBlack]

The formula is: gallons per mile/people in car
A Suburban getting 20 MPG with 3 people is using 0.016667 gallons per person per mile, ((1/20)/3)=0.016666667
A Suburban getting 20 MPG with 6 people is using 0.0083333333 gallons per person per mile, ((1/20)/3)=0.0083333333
A 15 passenger van getting 15 MPG with 15 people is using 0.004444444444 gallons per person per mile), ((1/15)/15)=0.004444444444
A Prius getting 50 MPG with 1 person is using 0.016667 gallons per person per mile, ((1/50)/1)=0.02
A Prius getting 50 MPG with 4 people is using 0.005 gallons per person per mile, ((1/50)/4)=0.005

So as a way to efficiently move people, a Prius getting 50MPG carrying 4 people is less efficient than a 15 passenger van getting 15 MPG with 15 people on board. With 5 people, the Prius is slightly more efficient than the van (0.004 vs 0.004444)

Aaron Z

You got to be kiddin.
This is what you posted on a logic front:

A>B
So therefore X is better than B
You compare Prius to Suburban, than summarize with a 15 passenger van( not the same)
Your #'s show the prius is still more efficient than the Suburban, even with the Suburban fuel cost split 6 ways!:laughing:

BTW: If you like these kind of math comparisons, try factoring in the fuel costs to get 15 people to the same location to board a large van!

 

[aczlan]

Your #'s show the prius is still more efficient than the Suburban, even with the Suburban fuel cost split 6 ways!:laughing:

Please re-read my post. A Prius with 1 person on board getting 50MPG burns 0.02 gallons per person per mile [(1/50)/1=0.02]. A suburban with 6 people on board getting 20MPG burns 0.008333333 gallons per person per mile [(1/20)/3=0.0083333333]. So a Prius (in that scenario) uses 2.4 times more fuel per person per mile than the suburban. On a 1000 mile trip, the 6 people in the Suburban would each need to buy 8.333 gallons of fuel while the one guy in the Prius would need to buy 20 gallons of fuel.
If you put 4 people in the Prius and 6 in the suburban, you would be correct.

Aaron Z

 

[dave1949]

If people-miles are what counts, the Space Shuttle probably outperformed the Prius and the Suburban. :laughing: So what?

 

[houstonscott]

Actually the suburban is more efficient then just the numbers if you had to make three trips in the Prius to move all the gear and people you would have to cover the distance 5 time more, think about it. HS

 

[brain55]

So over the course of a Suburban's life how many of it's miles do you figure are spent with 6 people and gear in it? Here in California I'd bet it would spend 50% or more with just the driver and a max of 25% with 6 and gear, if the owner had kids that were involved in sports and they picked up a few friends to go to games and practice etc. And probably the other 25% with 4 or less. I'm guessing the Prius owner purpose bought their vehicle much like the Suburban owner that hauls the kids and their friends to soccer practice. They likely spend 90% of their time commuting by themselves a 100+ miles per day and likely only needs the carrying capacity of a Suburban a couple times a year making renting one for those occasions much more cost effective.

 

[brain55]

Even though my numbers are arbitrary I don't think they are far off and I came up with them before doing the math.

So using the numbers already figured per person mile, I come up with average consumption on the Suburban to be .030/mi and the average on the Prius to be .016/mi. Unless I'm completely off base, the fuel costs on average is nearly half for the Prius. I used the 4 person cost for the remaining 10% of the Prius use.

 

[troutsqueezer]

Manipulating numbers to support an absurd claim that somehow a Surburban is more cost effective than a Prius in terms of mpg is just foolish. Not worth dignifying with a rebuttal, IYAM.