No Plans for Plug-In Hybrid (PHEV) Maverick Says Mike Levine

[burger_time]

Yup, and a feel-good #. I imagine a government committee debating it ... "How can we dumb this down? Oh add an 'e" to MPG, and a silly calculation that makes the # big, then let the public swallow a big one."

I looked into MPGe numbers and where the heck they get them from awhile back. I think it was based on the amount of energy contained in a gallon of gasoline. It's a calculation that should mean absolutely nothing to a consumer. Two obvious problems with it:

1. Electric cars don't run on gas
2. It's based on using 100% of the energy in a gallon of gas, whereas an ICE vehicle gets its REAL mpg numbers while only being like 30% or so efficient

It's an interesting metric and might have some use for comparing environmental factors against ICE vehicles. But what really matters to the consumer is how many kWh you put in and how many miles you get out. Then figure in electricity costs and compare with MPG and gas costs for ICE.

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[rmay635703]

Do you measure your gas fuel economy based on the efficiency of the refinery producing your gasoline?

Electric cars use 75-96% of the power fed into them, most gas cars are lucky to get 25% due to idling, low speeds (oversized engines are very inefficient operating slowly) and other losses.

Considering Americans don’t know metric measurements or what a kilowatt is
MPGe is an easy way to compare

There is no voodoo here, the power in a gallon of gas is well understood
MPGe just converts to common units.

Electric vehicles are much more efficient as they use most of the energy fed into them for moving and not for producing heat so on a power consumption basis it shouldn’t surprise anyone that they use less power to go the same distance.

If you don’t like MPGe, feel free to convert to kwhrs or btus, it really doesn’t matteras it’s just a comparison

Another simple comparison is cost per mile, some areas are a lot better than others.

 

[vap0rtranz]

But what really matters to the consumer is how many kWh you put in and how many miles you get out. Then figure in electricity costs and compare with MPG and gas costs for ICE.

Yup, totally agree. I also remember something similar about the MPGe formula last I looked into it. It made no sense to calculate the #.

@Darnon 's point was probably that the government -- I'm assuming the EPA -- didn't want people to change from the good ole MPG or have to fire off an extra nueron to calculate cost comparisons

Consumers are getting nudged over to the kWh by manufacturers anyways. Just look at our Hybrid instrument panels. They got rid of the RPM guage even though our Mav's have an ICE. So some of us are shifting over to the units of measure that make more sense.

 

[JimParker256]

Yeah, it would be SO much simpler if we (the US) joined the rest of the world (and the US scientific community) in switching to the metric system...

On "another forum" (about airplanes) there was this one guy who loved to "stump the band" so when he was asked for his typical cruise speed, he reported it as "370,943 furlongs per fortnight."

Yeah, I had to ask, as well... Turns out his favorite movie is "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" so that was his frame of reference. A "furlong" is an eighth of a mile (220 yards), so 370,943 furlongs is about 46,368 miles. And of course, "we all know" that a fortnight is two weeks (which, by the way, makes ZERO sense to me - it sounds like it should be either 4 nights or 40 nights, right?). So that makes his speed 3,312 miles per day, which comes to 138 miles per hour.

Whew! That was a lot of work, only to realize his cruise speed was the same as everyone else who flew that type of airplane...

 

[BradnChristine]

Yeah, it would be SO much simpler if we (the US) joined the rest of the world (and the US scientific community) in switching to the metric system...
...

Nothing worse than this mixture of having mm and SAE on the same vehicle. Metric makes so much more sense.

 

[C-maxMark]

Original source: Heatmap
Reported by: Ford Authority

Mike Levin said: “There’s no current need for a PHEV. The Maverick Hybrid is incredibly efficient and affordable. The EPA estimates that Maverick Hybrid’s total annual fuel cost is just $1,500.”

 

[inline_five]

Ford quote

Yeah, that's probably pretty accurate. Say 12,000 miles a year, 36 mpg on average, and 2.7 mi/wh hour if going electric, $5/gal gas and $0.16 kwh electricity.

$1,666 gasoline
$711 electricity
------------
$950/yr in savings

However the vehicle would cost probably $10,000 more

So quote a long pay back period, unless they could apply the $3750 credit like the Escape gets.

 

[BradnChristine]

I'm waiting for a PHEV that allows me to drive over a charging pad like a QI charger.

 

[Hot Runr Guy]

Then figure in electricity costs and compare with MPG and gas costs for ICE.

Got a chuckle this morning. Over on BOF, there's a thread about local fuel prices in members areas. Today was this entry,,,,,

HRG

 

[GmanGM]

Original source: Heatmap
Reported by: Ford Authority

Mike Levin said: “There’s no current need for a PHEV. The Maverick Hybrid is incredibly efficient and affordable. The EPA estimates that Maverick Hybrid’s total annual fuel cost is just $1,500.”

Not sure why you think you should tell me what I want. For those like me that do local chores whether grocery or HomeDepot, and can plug in at there house, phev or REhev is great and what I want- period ) yes I understand the hiyway mpg may go down 1 or 2 to lug around the extra weight, but you als can get the 1st ~ 40 miles on cheaper home electric before kicking in the hybrid ice- I had great experience and high reliability on my 2017 Volt REhev and want that again regardless of what you think.

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