Hybrids fall short on mpg

[otherclive]

I post a link from Honest Johns real mpg site which again shows that car makers are optimising the claimed mpg within the laboratory tests. The big German makers bring the worst performers. I note the Toyota Yaris does a wonderful 58 mpg real world. Such is progress that my wife’s 07 Nissan averages 61 mpg overall but it is a diesel......ugh!

Might add that I’m not advocating the article as an aid to choosing a tow car. Just for some evening reading.

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/real-mpg/ninety-eight-per-cent-of-hybrid-cars-can-t-match-their-advertised-mpg/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter 14 June 2018 Real MPG Special&utm_content=Newsletter 14 June 2018 Real MPG Special Version A CID_a4d9c875699aa1a8af76ff62bf097bbb&utm_source=campaign monitor&utm_term=Read the fully story

 

[Dustydog]

Clive,
The Volvo XC90 hybrid managed 16 mpg towing :woohoo:

 

[Kevin2306]

A few months back, I had the misfortune of having to use a Prius for a week.
It was worse on fuel than my BMW 530 (that does 44 towing and solo so quite good actually)

Kevin

 

[Dustydog]

A few months back, I had the misfortune of having to use a Prius for a week.
It was worse on fuel than my BMW 530 (that does 44 towing and solo so quite good actually)

Kevin

Incredible. The same towing and solo. A must buy B)

 

[Anseo]

Hi Kevin,

I am confident that the BMW 530 has good fuel consumption attributes, but I really cannot see that an increased load (like the caravan) would not impact adversely on fuel consumption

 

[Kevin2306]

I wouldnt have believed it either.
Towing at 55-60 the car is doing 1400 revs, i monitor my mpg quite closely and can say it doesnt make much if any difference.
Try one and see

Kev

 

[Raywood]

The figures the manufacturers produce rely on the electric power which in most cases lasts about thirty miles solo before the switch to conventional fuel. This inflates the figures but means that on longer runs the figures are unrealistic. For towing you will be nowhere near the published figures.
Possibly one of the clubs or magazines might try to test a few for towing and see what you can really expect. I suspect the manufacturers would not want to supply them though as the figures might be terrible and cost sales.

 

[otherclive]

Ive seen Volvo and Mitsubishi hybrid towing tests and don’t forget the large Lexus suv which was probably the first hybrid and came out a long while back in its first iteration.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Its inevitable that the worst performers will grab the headlines, and some do seem to be very poor, We presently have no consistent method of comparing these vehicles so its going to b difficult to make fair comparisons at the moment.

But it doesn't surprise me that towing with hybrids is producing some disturbing results. For a statr teh cars tens to be heavier than their Diesel counterparts after all they are lugging around some batteries, and an electric motor., and most use a petrol rather than diesel for the IC part of the equations.
Petrol IC engines are improving but the still struggle to produce the same MPG as a diesel of teh same weight So MPG will suffer, their but also if teh IC engine is being used to recharge batteries, its having to work considerably harder to do basically two jobs at the same time.

I am confident things will improve as time goes by, but at the present you have to consider that many caravanners will be reaping the other benefits of electric motoring, of lower fuel costs, lower tax brackets and some amazing MPG figures during normal solo motoring

 

[Raywood]

I think that you may simply have to look at the savings on everyday motoring and see if they are big enough to justify the extra cost when towing.

 

[Lutz]

I had a Lexus RX400h hybrid for 7 years. It returned quite phenomenal fuel economy solo in stop/start city driving, (over 50mpg, which I considered very respectable for a car weighing over 2000kg) but at motorway speeds and especially when towing, there was no saving at all.