17 July 2008Cool Stuff
800 Miles on One Fill Up?

zpm_aircar.jpg

Compressed-Air Powered cars could take you over 800 miles on a single fill-up, at speeds of up to 96 mph. They should refuel in less than 3 minutes, and at speeds over 35 mph emit about half the CO2 of a Toyota Prius. Best part? You could see them in the US at the end of next year.

Sounds good, but will they make an All Wheel Drive version for us powder hounds?

Now both my mom and my brother have a Prius. I would love to follow in their footsteps and get myself a hybrid, but there's just isn't an All Wheel Drive model that's worth a damn. Ford makes the Escape, but I will not buy a Ford (even though I'm a shareholder) until they improve their cars. I do think they are the one American car manufacturer that will take advantage of the demand for more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly cars. Toyota makes the Highliander, but it just sucks and barely gets better mileage than my Subie (about 20 miles/gallon on the highway). Why would I spend the money to get an extra 5 miles a gallon? I wouldn't. Then there's the Chevy Tahoe/GMC Yukon, but it's way too fucking large for me. The BMW X6 is supposed to have a hybrid model on the market in the US next year, but unless I win the lottery, I'm not getting that sled either.

Posted by andrew at July 17, 2008 12:03 PM


Comments

Brian Says:

BTW, I've averaged 53.7 and 51.3 mpg, respectively, on my commutes home the last two days.

Wasn't really paying attention on other days.

But still, not bad, huh?

Here's my advice for carbon footprint minded powder hounds in the bay area.

Commute to work via public transportation 100% of the time, and then get the AWD car you want for the mountains (avoiding SUV's, if but for the fact that they no longer have any resale value; or, alternatively, pick one up cheap because its price has plummeted) - and you'd be using it sparingly and mostly highway miles anyway. Keeps your annual gas costs/use down.

Since you're taking public transport most of the time anyway, no need to worry too much about having a hybrid.

July 17, 2008 04:28 PM
brian Says:

Prius update:

The "add fuel" sign came on yesterday - for the first time since I picked up the car exactly two weeks ago, so I went to fill it up.

It let me put 9.4 gallons in (the tank is 11.9, which means the low fuel signal comes on when there are 2.5 gallons left).

I'd driven it 398 miles since picking it up - having used 9.4 gallons, that's an average of just over 42.3 mpg.

Not a bad start.

July 25, 2008 08:08 AM




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