JowettTalk

I do not normally advocate talking about non-Jowett related subjects on JowettTalk; but in today's Times there was an excellent article on Energy, part of which is below.
In particular the striking inability of renewables to support the UK (and I guess many other small countries) is clearly put in the small section 'Renewable truths'.
The power density graph bluntly says that you would need to reduce the population of the UK considerably to fit all the solar panels and wind turbines to support the population.
The case for nuclear is undeniable( well to me anyway); albeit we perhaps need to switch to Thorium rather than Uranium to mitigate the risks. We should hope that the impending testing of the fusion systems will lead to commercial production and end our fear of 'carbon emissions' and a nuclear disaster.

I bring the subject up as we must all realise that the life of the petrol engine is limited, particularly in cities and densely populated areas such as the UK. Whether it is 20, 50 or 100 years from now the next generation of Jowetteers will face a problem. But if we get the 'Green' lobby off our back by having unlimited clean energy for our industry and houses, perhaps they will forget about the few classic cars burning fossil fuel. As Chris pointed out last week they are building a £6m plant to capture and process methane from a tip in a quarry, so perhaps a liquid methane Jowett is a sensible conversion powered from the rubbish at the bottom of the garden.

Toyota Prius Plug-In Hybrid is most economical car ever
Which? averages 83.1mpg in new electric Prius

17 November 2011

Up to 235.4mpg from Prius Plug-In Hybrid

Toyota's new Prius Plug-In Hybrid has smashed the all-time fuel consumption record for Which? tests. Our team averaged 83.1mpg, making it easily the most fuel-efficient car we've ever measured. 

Prius most efficient in town
The new Prius, which has a petrol engine and an electric motor, was even more impressive in our urban cycle test. It returned a remarkable 235.4mpg in our rolling-road simulation of stop-start city driving. 

Even in our test that simulates extra-urban (out-of-town) driving, Toyota's latest hybrid averaged an impressive, record-breaking 100.9mpg, confirming that it should be exceptionally frugal in real-world driving scenarios. 

The new Prius Plug-In Hybrid's 83.1mpg figure comfortably beats the previous average fuel economy record set by the Smart ForTwo CDI, which averaged 70.6mpg in Which? tests. 

However, the Toyota isn't so impressive on the motorway. In our simulated test of motorway driving we averaged only 46.3mpg. This makes the Prius hardly any more frugal than a conventional petrol-engined rival. For example, a Mazda6 1.8 petrol would use £15.12 of fuel per 100 motorway miles travelled, compared to the Toyota's £13.20 of fuel. 

Plug in your Prius at home
The secret to the new car's exceptional low-speed fuel figures is its battery pack. Unlike the existing Prius Hybrid, whose electric motor is recharged by the on-board petrol engine alone, the Plug-In Hybrid's battery can be recharged from a domestic plug socket in 90 minutes. This gives it a much longer range using electric power only - up to around 14 miles - so the petrol engine is used less. 

The cost of recharging the battery from empty at current rates is 64p, which could provide up to 14 miles of petrol-free travel.This makes the Prius a cheap car to run in town: the cost for travelling the same 14 urban miles in a 1.8-litre petrol Mazda6 would be £2.91. 

Toyota gets £5k government grant
The new Prius Plug-In Hybrid is due to go on sale in the UK in the summer of 2012, priced at £31,000. However, as it qualifies for the government's electric car grant scheme, that price is reduced by £5,000 to £26,000. 

Only the 'lease' version of the Prius Plug-In Hybrid has so far been available - this is the version we tested. The 'retail' production version that arrives next year will have a lighter and more compact battery pack, raising the prospect of even better fuel economy. 

Read more: http://www.which.co.uk/news/2011/11/toy ... z1e3XZN6XY

perhaps they will forget about the few classic cars burning fossil fuel.

Yeah agree on that..classic cars get a damn good hammering, often well deservered to i may say.
Try owning a heavy gas gusslling yank tank V8.
That just happened to be on the Nth Branch jowett eco run..with the best jowett doing about 32 mpg...and the 5.9L V8 33.79...without granny footing....going past a line of joweets hitting just under 100 mpg for a second...
Start tuning with 21 st century technology and the claims on our old cars will no longer be applicable.
It is strange that real 'Rodders in the US, Aussie , NZ..even europe are , have moved to the eco way...still maintain performance and a carbon foot print comprable to a meduim to large modern technology japanese /asian 4 door sedan.
Yet the classic /vintage ppl are still stuck in the 1940s and 50s...thats the reality , even thu many may not like it.

Now the prrus plug and go...
1/ what isthe carbon foot print to manufacture the vechile
2/Unless the electricity for re charge is renewable..ie thermo or hydro or solar...not fossel fuel then the carbon foot print must include this AND the generators, the lines etc to transmit to the charging piont.
They may have impressive mpg, without including the fossel feul to charge it up...and include, yeah still good, but a well tuning old car with a 5 or 6 speed gear box with a high final drive will do just the same.
One can work out and do the maths....Cruise AFR, rpms, engine size, volume per mile.
I have comparing the 5.9L camaro with the wifes 1.6L corolla.
En d of the day..sort out the propganda marketing BS and agendas from the cold hard facts and science....its still driven by profit and economics, not enviroment....