Danny Westneat at the Seattle Times apparently wasn’t taken in by the “This Car Gets 100/150MPG!” signage on Seattle’s test fleet of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).
apparently wasn’t taken in by the “This Car Gets 100/150MPG!” signage on Seattle’s test fleet of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). And it seems that his journalistic incredulity was rewarded with some disappointing numbers from Seattle’s real-world testing of the much-vaunted PHEVs. Sure, a converted plug-in Prius might get 100 mpg in the hands of a fanatic hypermiler, but in daily use by untrained city drivers, the PHEVs return much more moderate results. Westneat reveals that Seattle’s 14 plug-in Priuses actually averaged about 51 mpg after driving a total of 17,636 miles in all kinds of conditions. And the Seattle case is no fluke.
Google’s “Recharge” fleetof PHEVs returns similarly underwhelming results on average, specifically 37.7 mpg from a plug-in Ford Escape and 54.9 mpg from several plug-in Priora. Now, clearly 37-55 mpg is an improvement over their standard hybrid equivalents, but with Prius PHEV upgrades retailing fom $10K and up the cost of plugging in works out to around $1K per mpg improvement. According to Westneat’s math, even if battery prices were cut in half PHEV Priora would have to hit 80-100 mpg to overcome the shocking plug-in premium. And that’s not great. Are PHEV’s evolving technology? Sure. Will changes in driving style help improve those numbers? Probably. But does slapping “This Car Gets 100 MPG) on the side help the cause when those numbers don’t translate to reality? Not so much.