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To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (169497)	12/6/2008 12:50:52 PM
From: neolib	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

Well 0.5 would be about 20HP which is getting more reasonable. The simpler thing to do is just compare mileage of Hybrids to other small cars. They don't actually differ by that much. I had an old Honda Civic (1983 model) with an 1100cc engine, and it used to get 45mpg (HW driving) which is close to a Prius. I would think that new technology could allow the same Civic size & weight vehicle to get 5-10% better so that should be close to 50mpg. Of course the Prius weighs a good deal more than the Civic did, but that is part of the deal with Hybrids. The gasoline to wheel efficiency of a Hybrid is likely on par with the generation to wheel efficiency of an EV, BTW. The best efficency would be obtained with an on board diesel engine and mechanical drive train (no electric conversions), IF you could drive at constant speed, or spent most of the time at constant speed near the vehicles peak efficiency point (which design can shift around a bit). Small diesels can hit 45% efficiency, and mechanical drives are very efficiency. Almost every electrical conversion (and there are quite a few such conversions between the power plant and your EV's motor output shaft) is somewhere between the 85-95%, and those loses all get multiplied.