Plug in electric vehicles overstating the current case

City of Seattle photo.

According to Danny Westneat, columnist for the Seattle Times, in "Reality check on plug-in cars." From the article:

You may have seen the city's cars around town, painted with an eye-catching claim on the rear bumper: "This plug-in hybrid gets 100+mpg." Also, a greener boast: "150+City MPG!" Not exactly, it turns out. Not even close. Try 51 miles per gallon, city and highway combined. Not counting the cost of the electricity.

It's what 14 plug-in Priuses averaged after driving a total of 17,636 miles. The pilot project is one of the few in the nation to subject plug-in hybrid cars to regular motor-pool duty, as opposed to being driven by hypermilers or alt-energy enthusiasts.

"We're not putting these cars on a test track," said Scott Thomsen, a spokesman for Seattle City Light, which has three of the plug-ins. "We've got them on hills and wet streets, in the cold and the hot, on short trips and long — all the conditions that real people deal with every day."

Getting 51 miles per gallon sounds fine compared to most gas cars. But it's a black eye for a technology that trumpets it will get twice that. And which doesn't pencil financially unless it hits at least 80 miles per gallon.

That being said, in the beginning, new technology isn't as efficient as it may be later. But there is no reason to overstate (a/k/a "lying") the benefits.

Also see, from 2008, the Seattle Times blog piece, "Seattle City Light to test plug-in cars' appetite" and the City of Seattle press release, "News Release: Mayor unveils city of Seattle's first 100 mpg plug in hybrid car."