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Prince Charles has a dual-fuel Prius?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Oxo, Oct 28, 2005.

  1. Oxo

    Oxo New Member

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    According to an article in today's Guardian (London) by Oliver Berkeman, Prince Charles uses a "dual-fuel Prius" for short trips round London.
    Is electricity a "fuel"?
     
    #1 Oxo, Oct 28, 2005
  2. Wayne

    Wayne Active Member

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    That must have been what they meant, but electricity isn't a fuel. Gasoline is the only fuel the Prius uses. It creates electricity from that...
     
    #2 Wayne, Oct 28, 2005
  3. aaf709

    aaf709 Ravenpaw of ThunderClan

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    Maybe it can switch from petrol to Guinness. :)
     
    #3 aaf709, Oct 28, 2005
  4. LaughingMan

    LaughingMan Active Member

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    Kinetic energy is converted to electricity through regenerative braking. On a conventional vehicle, all of this energy is simply lost, while a substantial portion of it is reused in a hybrid.

    It depends on how you look at it. You could concieve of the hybrid system as simply trying to squeeze the most out of every drop of gas, or you could think of it as part of the time you are burning fuel, and the other part of the time you are using electricity you recaptured from regen.
     
    #4 LaughingMan, Oct 28, 2005
  5. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    More likely Bass. ;)
     
    #5 TonyPSchaefer, Oct 29, 2005
  6. PeteB

    PeteB PeteB

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    Hybrid vehicles are 'officially' lumped into a category here (UK) of 'dual fuel' by various national and local government agencies (annual car tax, for example, and the London Congestion Charge - dual fuel cars get the first cheaper and the second for free).

    Whether the electric bit qualifies as a fuel turned into a long running debate on the Prius-UK Yahoo group, and eventually the two main camps had to agree to differ.

    One argument was the only fuel you add to the car is petrol (gas) so it MUST be a single fuel car, the other was that when it's running on electricity, it matters not how it got there - if the HV battery power have come from a grid recharge, it would be a separate fuel, so what's the difference?


    Regards

    PeteB - 02 Silver 'Classic' - 72k miles
    Luton UK
    Life mpg 51.43 ~ 42.82 ~ 5.49 ~ 18.21
    (UK ~ US gal ~ I/100Km ~ Km/I)
     
    #6 PeteB, Oct 29, 2005
  7. KMO

    KMO Senior Member

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    I think not - at least I've never seen it lumped together. It falls under class "H" (Hybrid) for tax and registration purposes.

    Certainly they sometimes get the same benefit as dual-fuel cars, but I've never seen them conflated.
     
    #7 KMO, Oct 29, 2005
  8. wilco

    wilco New Member

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    LOL, I was going to say the exact same thing.
     
    #8 wilco, Oct 29, 2005
  9. hdrygas

    hdrygas New Member

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    It would run smoother on Beef Eaters!
     
    #9 hdrygas, Oct 29, 2005
  10. PeteB

    PeteB PeteB

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    Thanks - I must stop relying on my memory as I get older. :eek:

    BTW My registration document states the taxation class as "alternative fuel car"

    I suspect (hope!) I'm remembering something from the early days (2000 ish) before they decided how to treat Hybrids.
     
    #10 PeteB, Oct 29, 2005
  11. Oxo

    Oxo New Member

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    Thanks for these replies. I'll side with those who say electricity is not a fuel - it's a form of energy.
    Incidentally Prince Charles (Prince of Wales) is visiting the USA this week, starting in New York and travelling west so that he's in SF on Friday. I doubt if he'll be in his Prius though. (See the programme on
    http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/diary.html
    But I wonder if he knows that there are more Prius owners in the places he's visiting than there are in London. Or perhaps he is already one of us, lurking here, reading these topics, and hiding behind an anonymous avatar. If he wants an avatar he could use the Welsh flag, as below. In fact as there appears to be no-one on PriusChat in Wales here's a suitable avatar for the first one.
    The red dragon would make a nice symbol for a Prius.
     

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    #11 Oxo, Oct 29, 2005
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