Aptera annual fuel cost vs Prius-Interesting math

[hill]

Originally Posted by Devil's Advocate

F8L - you're right I just plain left out the electricity cost.

. . . . snip

It will also be really cool to go from Orange County CA (may be working and moving here soon) to Las Vegas NV and back on about 4.125 gallons of gas. (the Prius takes about 12.75)

12.75 gallons to go appx 500 miles? Dude, you gota slow down & jack your tire pressues up Try less than 8.5 gallons, easy. Both times we did the round trip, we still had nearly a 1/4 tank left.

BTW ... I'm # 1558 on the Aptera wait list. Pure EV ... running off solar panels ... free @ last, free @ last, oh thank God, we'll be free at last. WOO HOO !

[Devil's Advocate]

Originally Posted by hill

12.75 gallons to go appx 500 miles? Dude, you gota slow down & jack your tire pressues up Try less than 8.5 gallons, easy. Both times we did the round trip, we still had nearly a 1/4 tank left.

BTW ... I'm # 1558 on the Aptera wait list. Pure EV ... running off solar panels ... free @ last, free @ last, oh thank God, we'll be free at last. WOO HOO !

Dude thats like 68.9 MPG for my trip and it shows as 58.9 for your trip! Way to go but I've never gotten even 58.9 MPG. Even my girlfriend, who gets about 4 MPG better than me, can't reach that number and her driving drives me nuts its so slow. (but sometimes I'd rather sleep ;-)

Seems like a lot but I travel at about 75 mph, over 586 miles roundtrip (not 500), usually with the AC blasting because its about 110 and at 12.75 gallons that is 42 MPG, which is my average over the 152,000 miles I have on my 05. (yeah and no battery problems!) I have 42/40 psi front to rear, but I have 195/60 instead of the stock 185/65.

Also, I will routinely enjoy a good cigar over the drive which requires the drivers side widows to be open about 3". This causes some noticeable drag.

Probably putting my deposit on the Type 1h before then end of this year eventhough it might not be ready until 2010.

[nerfer]

Originally Posted by F8L

It's a diminishing returns kinda deal. From 15mpg to 50mpg is a huge savings but from 50mpg to 85mpg the savings do not ramp up so quickly. Even at 300mpg it's not as large as one would anticipate. Again, assuming a $4/ga rate. At $9/ga the math changes completely and so do all of our lives. LOL

For that kind of thing it would be easier to see if we follow the metric world's method of liter/100km.
15 mpg = 6.67 gal/100 miles
50 mpg = 2 gal/100 miles
85 mpg = 1.18 gal/100 miles
300 mpg = .33 gal/100 miles

So improving from 15 mpg to 50 mpg saves 4.67 gallons/100 miles, and nothing you can do after that will equal that kind of savings.

That's why some people argue that a hybrid SUV that gets a 3 or 4 mpg improvement has as much impact as replacing a small car with a Prius: going from 17 mpg to 20.5 mpg saves as much gas per mile as going from 28 mpg to 48 mpg (both save 1.5 gallon/100 miles). That's assuming people wouldn't give up their SUV. Of course, going from an SUV to an efficient hybrid is the best option (other than biking).

[DaveinOlyWA]

Originally Posted by nerfer

For that kind of thing it would be easier to see if we follow the metric world's method of liter/100km.
15 mpg = 6.67 gal/100 miles
50 mpg = 2 gal/100 miles
85 mpg = 1.18 gal/100 miles
300 mpg = .33 gal/100 miles

So improving from 15 mpg to 50 mpg saves 4.67 gallons/100 miles, and nothing you can do after that will equal that kind of savings.

That's why some people argue that a hybrid SUV that gets a 3 or 4 mpg improvement has as much impact as replacing a small car with a Prius: going from 17 mpg to 20.5 mpg saves as much gas per mile as going from 28 mpg to 48 mpg (both save 1.5 gallon/100 miles). That's assuming people wouldn't give up their SUV. Of course, going from an SUV to an efficient hybrid is the best option (other than biking).

these absolute arguments are soooo.... something!!!

suppose you had a disease and was told you had 5 years to live....

would that 5 years be the same if you were 25 verses being 75?

for me it would not be. 5 years at 25 is much more valuable than 5 years at 75....

now that is me... most would say 5 years is 5 years, just you would say 2 gallons is 2 gallons...

to reduce consumption from 20 gallons to 18 gallons is just like going from 4 gallons to 2???...

sorry, it maybe two gallons, but it aint the same

[jelectric]

Originally Posted by nerfer

For that kind of thing it would be easier to see if we follow the metric world's method of liter/100km.
15 mpg = 6.67 gal/100 miles
50 mpg = 2 gal/100 miles
85 mpg = 1.18 gal/100 miles
300 mpg = .33 gal/100 miles

So improving from 15 mpg to 50 mpg saves 4.67 gallons/100 miles, and nothing you can do after that will equal that kind of savings.

I have a generally more direct cost view. I usually put on more than 100k miles on my cars. So taking 100k as an example, at 15 mpg and $4/gal, you would spend about $26,667 on fuel. At 300mpg you would spend about $1,333. That is a savings of over $25,000 on fuel alone - almost the cost of the car. If you make your own electricity via solar, then your fuel is free.