Unclear on the concept…

[Scotlers]

I was just a bit floored by this…I really didn’t know how to react.

This guy was a bit sucky, but really just clueless and uninformed.

To set up: I drive a Toyota Camry hybrid…just like the one in my avatar. I really like it, I am getting like 37 miles to the gallon, about 24 miles to the gallon better than my VW SUV got. A nice jump for me. (I am saving about $275/month in gas.)

Like most hybrid vehicles, my car is a gasoline-electric hybrid. Meaning I will periodically need to get gas, as pretty much anyone who drives needs to do.

So over this past weekend, I needed to get gas, so I stopped at the gas station just down the road from my house on the way home from errands and had this exchange with another “customer.” (I use the term loosely.)

Me: Just your average hybrid driving fool
SC: Uninformed person, painfully unclear on the concept

SC: Hey, what are you doing?
Me: I am buying gas, like you are.
SC: Well, why?
Me: (Thinking, is this a test or something?) Um, because I needed to get some?
SC: Well, you’ve got a hybrid. (Pointing to the hybrid badge on my fender.)
Me: Yes, I do. So?
SC: Hybrids don’t need gas. You’re going to be sor-ree! (He said ‘sorry’ like those old Bugs Bunny cartoons when Bugs tells someone they shouldn’t do something.)
Me: (Seriously looking around for a hidden camera van or something.) Um, no, my car does indeed need gas. See, it’s got a gas tank and everything. (Move over slightly to show him my open gas tank door and the pump handle going in.)
SC: (looking at me like I am the stupidest person on earth.) No, hybrids don’t need gas. I read that online. That’s why they’re called hybrids, they don’t need gas! You’re going to be sor-ree!
Me: Um, you’re not even driving a hybrid, so how do you know what they do and don’t need? I have had my car for a year and a half and I have never had a problem filling my car up. It’s a gasoline-electric hybrid, meaning that, in fact, it does need gas.
SC: Well, that’s not what I read online. Your car doesn't use gas. You’re just ruining your car.
Me: Whatever, I am done talking with you.
SC: No need to get huffy, just because I pointed out that didn’t know that about your car.
Me: Seriously, you’re still talking?
SC: I was just trying to help.

So I finish gassing up, got my receipt and left. He was still there gassing up his vehicle, just shaking his head like I was a fool.

Dude, wouldn’t you think that since it is MY car I would know how to operate it?

I know that hybrids are new, but it’s not like I have the first hybrid ever. I mean, you could get a hybrid Toyota since like 2002.

Now, I have no problem with people talking to me about my car, and I am always willing to answer questions, since it is pretty neat (at least to me) technology. Pretty much everyone else other than this dimwit understands that my car runs on gas and electric power.

Like I said, I was completely dumbfounded and totally thrown for a loop. I was irritated, but not because of what he originally said, but because he just refused to listen to what I was saying and just kept saying I was just wrong.

Dude, seriously, let's use our noodle before we open our mouth.

[ringo]

I think my next car is going to be a hybrid. How many miles do you travel between fill ups? Right now my little neon goes ~275-300 miles per "tank". I don't travel that much (distance wise) any more, so I can get 7 days between fill ups. Even with the high prices, I only put no more $30 to fill it up. Its great compared to my father ($80+, full size truck)

[Soulstealer]

But he read it online so it must be true.

Yeah, some people are idiots who need to learn the value of keeping their mouth shut. Unfortunatly I have yet to obtain a grant to sew it shut for them.

[crazylegs]

Me: Seriously, you’re still talking?

Now that is a put down I need to remember!

[Becks]

Crazylegs, I say that all the time.

[chainedbarista]

pwnage on two fronts!

we talked about a hybrid, but subaru doesn't have them just yet, so when they do and we need a new ride, i am so there.

one day, i too, shall be green!

[Shangri-laschild]

but..but...hybrid means two things mixed doesn't it? Wow.

[Scotlers]

How many miles do you travel between fill ups? Right now my little neon goes ~275-300 miles per "tank". I don't travel that much (distance wise) any more, so I can get 7 days between fill ups.

I can get anywhere between 425 and 500 miles per tank, depending on how I drive.

I do drive a lot though, almost 1600 miles a month, so I am pretty much filling up about once a week or so. Which is pretty good, since with my SUV, I was filling up almost every 4 - 6 days.

Oddly enough, I get better mileage in the spring/summer. Over the winter I was averaging about 31-33 mpg, now with the warmer weather, I am getting back up to 35-37 mpg.

I have been able to break 40 mpg, but that was just on one tank, I was driving purposefully to see if I could...I got almost 580 miles on that tank. But it was just not realistic to drive like that on a regular basis.

[crazylegs]

In the winter you're more likely to use the heated window parts, the heaters for inside, the headlights etc, it all adds up.

However if its really cold the fuel becomes more dense so you can get more of it in your tank if you fill up on a cold morning!

[BlaqueKatt]

one day, i too, shall be green!

no you won't
Read this
Prius Outdoes Hummer in Environmental Damage

the Prius is partly driven by a battery which contains nickel. The nickel is mined and smelted at a plant in Sudbury, Ontario. This plant has caused so much environmental damage to the surrounding environment that NASA has used the ‘dead zone’ around the plant to test moon rovers. The area around the plant is devoid of any life for miles.

and this
Hybrid vehicles' overall energy costs exceed those of comparable non-hybrids

Spinella spent two years on the most comprehensive study to date – dubbed "Dust to Dust" -- collecting data on the energy necessary to plan, build, sell, drive and dispose of a car from the initial conception to scrappage. He even included in the study such minutia as plant-to-dealer fuel costs of each vehicle, employee driving distances, and electricity usage per pound of material. All this data was then boiled down to an "energy cost per mile" figure for each car.

omparing this data, the study concludes that overall hybrids cost more in terms of overall energy consumed than comparable non-hybrid vehicles. But even more surprising, smaller hybrids' energy costs are greater than many large, non-hybrid SUVs.

For instance, the dust-to-dust energy cost of the bunny-sized Honda Civic hybrid is $3.238 per mile. This is quite a bit more than the $1.949 per mile that the elephantine Hummer costs. The energy cots of SUVs such as the Tahoe, Escalade, and Navigator are similarly far less than the Civic hybrid.

One of the most perverse things about U.S. consumers buying hybrids is that while this might reduce air pollution in their own cities, they increase pollution – and energy consumption -- in Japan and other Asian countries where these cars are predominantly manufactured. "In effect, they are exporting pollution and energy consumption,"

[Andara Bledin]

Dude, seriously, let's use our noodle before we open our mouth.

Scotlers. Straight to the sewer on that quote.

^-.-^

[Broomjockey]

One of the most perverse things about U.S. consumers buying hybrids is that while this might reduce air pollution in their own cities, they increase pollution – and energy consumption -- in Japan and other Asian countries where these cars are predominantly manufactured. "In effect, they are exporting pollution and energy consumption,"

And if people don't support hybrid car technology, it won't improve because it'll be scrapped. This is Fratching material, so take it over there.

[Spiffy McMoron]

In the winter you're more likely to use the heated window parts, the heaters for inside, the headlights etc, it all adds up.

However if its really cold the fuel becomes more dense so you can get more of it in your tank if you fill up on a cold morning!

Plus, cold batteries don't provide as much juice. If you look at a normal car battery, it'll have two power listings--one at 32F(cranking amps), and another at 0F (cold cranking amps). The one at 0F is always lower than the listing at 32F. (On my old car, the CA was 1000 amps and the CCA was 850 amps. I don't know what my new car's battery is rated for... )

[Pagan]

OW!! Damn that maroon. Now I have to go chase down the brain cells that have run away in terror. Have you ever tried coaxing them out from under a desk? Can I sue him for breaking my brain?