While most hybrids are said to use one to two litres of fuel per 100km, a study claims they need six litres on average
Plug-in hybrid electric cars (PHEVs) use much more fuel on the road than officially stated by their manufacturers, a large-scale analysis of about a million vehicles of this type has shown.
The Fraunhofer Institute carried out what is thought to be the most comprehensive study of its kind to date, using the data transmitted wirelessly by PHEVs from a variety of manufacturers while they were on the road.
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According to the study, the vehicles require on average six litres per 100km, or about 300%, more fuel to run than previously cited.
The scientists of the Fraunhofer Institute found that the main reason for the higher-than-stated fuel usage was due precisely to the fact that the PHEVs use two different modes, the electric engine and the combustion engine, switching between both. Until now it has been claimed by manufacturers that the vehicles used only a little or almost no fuel when in the electric mode. The studies showed that this was not in fact the case.
Doesn’t gas go bad eventually? Could that be a problem if you end up needing the ICE to turn on?
I used to have a motorbike that I hardly ever used and it was so unreliable because of this. I ended up having to get rid of it in the end because it just wasn’t worth the effort for the amount of time that I used it.
they actually thought of that when designing the volt. the tank is pressurised to stop evaporation (which causes the concentration of additives to change so they fall out of solution), and the engine runs for a minute or so every month (or if you haven’t started it in a while) to make sure there’s no bad gas in the lines.
Wow, awesome tech
I have a different model, but it more or less vacuum seals the gas tank to mitigate that - it is still wouldn’t last forever, but without air to react with the aging process is significantly slowed down.