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20-MPG Gas Guzzer Named "Green Car of the Year"

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  • #1

    20-MPG Gas Guzzer Named "Green Car of the Year"

    From SeattlePI.com:

    [Chevy Tahoe Hybrid as green car of the year?

    I'm not sure how you can cheer the crowning of "green car of the year" on an SUV that gets 21 miles per gallon in the city (I can't find highway stats, but assume they're worse).

    That's the honor bestowed upon the 2008 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The SUV is seats eight passengers, has a 60 cubic foot cargo volume and can carry up to 1400 pounds of cargo.

    2008 Chevy Tahoe HybridWho's behind this? From a Green Car Journal press release: "The Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid was selected in a majority vote by a jury of high-profile environmental and industry leaders, along with four Green Car Journal editors. Invited jurors this year included Carroll Shelby, Jay Leno, Carl Pope (Sierra Club), Christopher Flavin (Worldwatch Institute), Jonathan Lash (World Resources Institute), and Jean-Michel Cousteau (Ocean Futures Society)."

    Pope elaborates on the decision:
    "GM promised they would use hybrid technology, and use it where it would make the most difference – on their biggest vehicles. They have delivered with the Chevy Tahoe," says Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, pointing out that this vehicle ends the argument that efficiency and vehicle choice are incompatible. He adds that automakers should now make their entire fleets fuel efficient as fast as they can retool.
    At a mere 21 mpg city, 22 mpg highway, the Chevy Tahoe is part of the problem, not part of the solution.
    Last edited by Zkribbler; November 19, 2007, 17:19.
    Tags: None
  • #2
    20 MPH - isn't that a bit slow ?
    With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.

    Steven Weinberg

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    • #3
      My guess is that the non-hybrid version is so atrocious that 21/22 mpg is a huge improvement.

      They probably have already given the award to, say, the Prius, and felt the need to hand it to some other car. If they wanted to give it to a hybrid SUV, though, I would think that the Ford Escape would've been the best choice (IIRC it has the best fuel economy for SUVs).

      -Arrian
      grog want tank...Grog Want Tank... GROG WANT TANK!

      The trick isn't to break some eggs to make an omelette, it's convincing the eggs to break themselves in order to aspire to omelettehood.

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      • #4
        The non-hybrid version is 15/20 -- meaning that the hybrid version increased the city driving efficiency by 40%. Also, it probably makes the engine turn off when traffic is at a standstill. Unfortunately, much commuting time is taken up by sitting in traffic in the US, and the engines burn quite a lot of gasoline at idle.
        I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891

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        • #5
          nm
          "The French caused the war [Persian Gulf war, 1991]" - Ned
          "you people who bash Bush have no appreciation for one of the great presidents in our history." - Ned
          "I wish I had gay sex in the boy scouts" - Dissident

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          • #6
            Originally posted by DanS
            Unfortunately, much commuting time is taken up by sitting in traffic in the US, and the engines burn quite a lot of gasoline at idle.
            Belive me, from time to time the same happens in europe too - typically in the morning and then later in the afternoon
            With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.

            Steven Weinberg

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Arrian
              My guess is that the non-hybrid version is so atrocious that 21/22 mpg is a huge improvement.

              They probably have already given the award to, say, the Prius, and felt the need to hand it to some other car.
              True. But Chevy shouldn't get Green Car of the Year for turning a super gashog into a gashog.

              The award could have gone to the new Honda FCX Clarity fuel-cell vehicle (whose only emission is water) or to the 35-mpg super-clean Mercedes-Benz E340 Bluetec (the first California-compliant diesel in years) or to the sensible, space-conscious Smart Fortwo.

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              • #8
                Assuming that this SUV is driven 100,000 miles during its lifetime, the hybrid version will save up to 2,000 gallons of gasoline. At $3 a gallon, it will save $6,000 during this time period -- that is, if the price of the Tahoe is increased by something less than $6,000, the hybrid addition will be a net benefit to buyers.

                Since GM is just starting its hybrid efforts, the hybrid drivetrain is fairly expensive for them (much moreso than it is for Toyota, f.e.). As it becomes less expensive, it might make sense for them in a risk-free fashion to move hybrid into their smaller cars where the savings are smaller.

                I have to say though that GM has had a bad attitude toward hybrid (and toward technology advances in general). The Prius has been around for years and GM is just now coming out with a hybrid?
                Last edited by DanS; November 19, 2007, 17:38.
                I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by DanS
                  Assuming that this SUV is driven 100,000 miles during its lifetime, the hybrid version will save up to 2,000 gallons of gasoline. At $3 a gallon, it will save $6,000 during this time period -- that is, if the price of the Tahoe is increased by something less than $6,000, the hybrid addition will be a net benefit to buyers.

                  Since GM is just starting its hybrid efforts, the hybrid drivetrain is fairly expensive for them (much moreso than it is for Toyota, f.e.). As it becomes less expensive, it might make sense for them in a risk-free fashion to move hybrid into their smaller cars where the savings are smaller.

                  I have to say though that GM has had a bad attitude toward hybrid (and toward technology advances in general). The Prius has been around for years and GM is just now coming out with a hybrid?
                  dan, please figure out the gas savings based on annual appreciation of gas prices and standard inflation rate.
                  "I hope I get to punch you in the face one day" - MRT144, Imran Siddiqui
                  'I'm fairly certain that a ban on me punching you in the face is not a "right" worth respecting." - loinburger

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                  • #10
                    Err... You can do so, if you wish.
                    I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by DanS
                      Err... You can do so, if you wish.
                      I'm a pedant, not an economist!
                      "I hope I get to punch you in the face one day" - MRT144, Imran Siddiqui
                      'I'm fairly certain that a ban on me punching you in the face is not a "right" worth respecting." - loinburger

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                      • #12
                        OK, then you can go pound sound.
                        I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891

                        Comment

                        • #13
                          Originally posted by DanS
                          OK, then you can go pound sound.
                          i'm a pedant not a pedestrian!
                          "I hope I get to punch you in the face one day" - MRT144, Imran Siddiqui
                          'I'm fairly certain that a ban on me punching you in the face is not a "right" worth respecting." - loinburger

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by DanS
                            Assuming that this SUV is driven 100,000 miles during its lifetime, the hybrid version will save up to 2,000 gallons of gasoline. At $3 a gallon, it will save $6,000 during this time period -- that is, if the price of the Tahoe is increased by something less than $6,000, the hybrid addition will be a net benefit to buyers.
                            How long does it take an American to drive 100,000 miles?

                            I'd estimate based on the odometer in my car that I've done less than 25,000 in the last 10 years (when I started driving).
                            One day Canada will rule the world, and then we'll all be sorry.

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by MRT144


                              i'm a pedant ...
                              "ped" = Latin for "foot;" "ant" = a tiny insect
                              Does this mean you step on ants?

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