Reply #18: Horrible stop-and-start freeway driving gives the best mileage

[PurityOfEssence]

I'm guessing you have one of the hatchbacks, which have more power and better mileage. Mine's an '03.

I think the problem is that battery technology just doesn't let one store as much energy as the system reclaims, so when in very slow traffic, one is pure electric for long periods and is not wasting as much energy.

You're right about the urban vs. freeway driving, although if you keep it at 63 on long stretches, you'll net 50+ on this model.

Ya gotta love the EPA estimates having a higher city estimate than highway estimate; it's just sort of an eye-opener that you're dealing with a different sort of beast.

What people REALLY don't get is the torque issue: acceleration is much better than anything of comparable horsepower because of the properties of electric motors, and as we city drivers know, it's not speed, but acceleration that matters most. Quite a peppy little thing, isn't it?

This is an idiotic thread; the thing proves itself by its record. Those who poo-pooh it tend to do so from a butch standpoint of thinking of it as a kiddie-car, when it's got plenty of oopmh. Even the weight of the battery issue is silly: it's largely offset by the weight of a larger engine in similarly horse powered vehicles even when the weight of the electric motor is taken into account.

Silly silly silly.

Fun to drive, isn't it?