Kinda of a long route to just one example:
Quote:
Originally Posted by IamIan
. . . the Honda Gen-1 Insight for example . . .
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So let's see how it stands. Looking at payload passenger and cargo cubic feet mile per gallon:
Fuel Economy- 2,151 = (36+6.5)*50.6 :: 2001 Insight (compact, auto), 7 vehicles
- 2,856 = (36+6.5)*67.2 :: 2004 Insight (compact, manual), 4 vehicles
- 4,585 = (89+12)*45.4 :: 2003 Prius (compact, auto), 25 vehicles
- 5,684 = (94+22)*49.0 :: 2010 Prius (midsize, auto), 149 vehicles
36 ft. cu. estimated using 2003, compact Prius cabin scaled by 2/5 seats.
6.5 ft. cu. reported by Edmunds as a 5 ft{3} and 1.5 ft{3} space.
I prefer user reported mileage, real-world drivers.
Now these numbers may seem strange until you translate them into a specific example. So imagine you have four parking lots filled each with the above make and model of cars but empty gas tanks. You have 100 people each with a suitcase who need to be moved 100 miles in the next three hours including loading and fueling (aka., the Katrina evacuation) but there is just 50 gallons of gas (everyone brings just 0.5 gallon of gas.)
Which car(s) do you use?
- 2001 Insight - requires 50 vehicles to burn 1.98 gallons each or 99.0 gallons
- 2004 Insight - requires 50 vehicles to burn 1.49 gallons each or 74.5 gallons
- 2003 Prius - requires 20 vehicles to burn 2.20 gallons each or 44.0 gallons (plus 4 Insights or 2 Prius or 6 gallons spare)
- 2010 Prius - requires 20 vehicles to burn 2.04 gallons each or 40.8 gallons (plus 6 Insights or 4 Prius or 9 gallons spare)
Efficiency ~= output / input :: (passenger + cargo ft{3}) * miles / gallon
Bob Wilson
ps. It might be fun to model the Leaf with generators that need to charge them up for 100 miles.