CNW report reaches major news site

Very nice!

I would like for Art to release their data and calculations used in the report so that it can be reviewed for accuracy. Some of the report makes sense but some of it doesn't and I want to see if they make small "igorant" mistakes or glaringly obvious mistakes that would lead one to believe they were being dishonest.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(F8L @ May 23 2007, 10:19 PM) [snapback]448837[/snapback]</div>

He used to have the Excel spreadsheet up w/numbers but the sheet was password protected so you couldn't view the formulas or search it. See http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=1...mp;#entry272611.

However, it still gives us no idea how he derived his expected lifetime figures and crazy stuff like the Prius costing $325K to dispose of, a VW Phaeton costing $2.5 million to dispose of and the unreliable Ford Expedition supposedly lasting 284K miles.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(F8L @ May 24 2007, 01:19 AM) [snapback]448837[/snapback]</div>

I hate to keep harping on this, but those numbers make absolutely no sense. If you focus on some odd details (like vehicle lifetime) you give those numbers far more credence than they deserve. They are not just somewhat wrong -- wrong in some details of the calculation -- they are vastly, hugely, two-orders-of-magnitude implausible. They are total, complete nonsense.

If you take the CNW "energy cost per mile" for a mid-range vehicle (about $2.50 per mile), multiply by estimated US total annual vehicle miles (from US DOT), you find that the annual total "energy cost" for US driving, based on the CNW figures, is about 20 times US total spending for all energy for all uses.

This is the macro (economy-wide) statistic that corresponds to the common obsevation that, by the CNW estimate, the lifetime "energy cost" of your Prius is about $330,000, which amounts to $25K purchase price, about $8K in gas, and only about $300,000 un-accounted-for, ie, total bullsh*t.

Alternatively, based on the CNW numbers, about 60% of the entire US GDP is consumed by the "energy cost" of our driving. Again, that's ludicrous.

I can't say it any more strongly -- those numbers are not (just) wrong in the details, they are hugely, absolutely, out-of-this-world incorrect. At some level, it doesn't matter how CNW came up with the numbers, all that matters is that they are vastly too high to be plausible.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(chogan @ May 24 2007, 06:41 AM) [snapback]448985[/snapback]</div>

I still think there is something to the Prius being a one off model for the most part. I completely understand your point but there has to be some truth to the report. If the thing were 100% BS it would likely put these guys out of business. lol