Driving it like a normal vehicle, no hypermilling techniques and quasi-aggressive those are the numbers. It would be shameful to have an RX puttering around town... The few times I have tried to hypermill in the RXh, it would go up to 29-30. But it was way too much work for very little gain in that thing. It does not coast well for gliding. Driving the Prius like the RXh I get low 40's. Driving the Prius with relative hypermilling, it shoots up to low 50's. 10mpg difference with minimal effort versus 4mpg with a helluvalot of effort is a big difference.
I'm having trouble convincing myself that hybridization of expensive lexus' and SUVs is a profitable move by Toyota. I wonder if 'leader' paranoia is setting in.
I agree as to mpg savings ... however the removal of pollution is STILL a good thing ... and so mpg savings is just an added bonus. But you're right. It's very likely that RX (or ANY heavy sized) hybrid buyers are CERTAINLY NOT thinking primarily about mpg's. Rather it may just be an 'image' thing. I don't know. .
well my math is horrible but ... if the regular RX is getting 21mpg ... any you're efforts yield a 30mpg ... isn't that about 30% Then ... it's maybe another 13% higher between your 30mpg & my 35.5mpg. That may be the difference of running the RX like the Prius ... high tire pressures ... ebh ... etc. I'm sure you heard the old addage. You save WAY more fossil fuel if you increase a land barge's 15mpg by 20% than if you increase a 40mpg car by 20%.
^^ Yes, that is why I advocate that we all drive hybrid Sherman tanks. The increase in mpg from 3 to 4 mpg will be astronomical amounts of fuel saved.
The army has them. There is one roaring around an army base in town. And it is not 3mpg to 4mpg. It is more like 2gpm to 1gpm I am told. That is GPM: Gallons per Mile not miles per gallon...
The M1A2 has a 500lb battery and consumes 12 gallons/hour just sitting there. The advance of the tank was slowed by refueling in the persian gulf war. If I remember right its just over 200 miles on 500 gallons of JP8, if you are stopping along the way to kill the enemy. They are experimenting with a wankel genrator (APU) and a smaller battery pack. Definitely when you are out running your fuel supply line making the thing a hybrid makes a lot of sense. Still, maybe we have enough tanks and don't need to spend the massive amounts to replace the group. Maybe the new lithium technology and better turbines will give them more range.
Ok so a non-hybrid got 500/200 = 2.5 gallons per mile. Any idea what the use of the hybridized version is? I would love someone to put a spare Prius "hybrid" emblem on the side of one of those tanks.
