Non-electric Ford F-150 hydraulic hybrid could get 40 mpg

There used to be cars in the 80s that got 50 mpg.

Attached to a 7500lb trailer? If that hasn't scared you yet, there's a 16%grade in Colrain with a Church sticking partway into the road near the bottom.

For some jobs there is no substitute for size and weight.

According to fed.gov.

MPG (city) 27
MPG (highway) 34
MPG (combined) 29

It was a little car, probably 4 cyl? Couldn't haul or tow, which is what a large pickup has to do. Weighs a lot less than a large Ford pickup (tons less?).

hybrid technology!

recommended.

on the highway it won't make much or any difference.


This is why it's already being used on things like garbage collection trucks.

nevermind

:evilgrin:

"42mpg BMW 5 Series Hydraulic Hybrid uses no batteries"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7MGV5SLv-A&feature=related

When I no longer needed my truck, I opted for a sedan that has been getting me about 30mpg compared to my truck 17mpg.

When I took it in for service, they gave me a diesel sedan of the same model. I averaged 42mpg on my way to work.

Now I'm torn... Do I go back to having a truck, or do I go for the sedan?

Electric hybrids can be designed as plug-in hybrids, getting dirt cheap energy from electricity. The ones described above are ALWAYS going to be solely dependent on fossil fuels.

You maintain towing power, which it alleges electric hybrids are lacking in.

Plus you don't have a battery to deal with, to run down or recycle.

I can see how it would be useful for a lot of things. And a step in using less fuel is a step, no matter how you look at it.

Electric motors can generate tremendous torque with no warm-up time. There's a reason the Tesla Roadster is capable of 0-60 in 3.7 seconds.

I can see what they are saying, based on the ones we got at work. They are not electric cars, they are hybrids. The power on that electric motor seems underwhelming, and it has to draw on the gas motor anytime you need quick speed or to power up a hill.

They're designed to let the electric motors boost them, not to be the primary source of power. The best design currently available, from a standpoint of balancing range and performance, is a range-extended EV, something which runs purely on electric motors for movement, but features a liquid-fueled generator to provide on-board electricity.

The other part about Prius-type hybrids is that thanks to having both a full size engine AND battery pack AND electric motors, they're heavier than average for their size. My Saturn econobox is about the same size as a Prius, but the Prius weighs 30% more, which is about 800 pounds.

Now all that said, the Prius actually has 50% more towing capacity than my Saturn, 1500 pounds versus 1000. Neither of those compares to a large pickup truck, and never will. I'm personally of the opinion that the talk about the "poor towing capacity" of hybrids is more perception than reality, driven by a belief that anything green must be terrible compared to a good ol' fashioned big ass gas burnin' truck, and therefore the environmentalists must be about to try and force people to tow big loads using tiny, underpowered mini-hybrids. :eyes:

I fully understand that if you want/need horsepower, or clearance, or towing capacity, or cargo capacity, then some kind of light-truck class of vehicle is what you want.

What I don't understand is the difficulty we have with saying something like: "I, myself, do not need those things. My possible need for those things once or twice a year does not really justify a decision to purchase an F150 or Explorer, so I will instead purchase a smaller, lighter car."