Prius Irony

I read an entry by a Prius owner explaining the seductive game of getting the highest fuel economy possible, competing with other Prius owners. At the time I thought, Yeah, regenerative braking is pretty cool. I remembered that recently with a sardonic twist.

I do care about efficiency (I compost! I recycle!), and I carpool to work when possible even though I sometimes have to shuffle my schedule. My own version of the Prius game is to try to beat the published EPA ratings. Our newest car, which is actually his and not mine, but I drive it often, can display the instantaneous fuel economy on the electronic dashboard display. I usually leave it on that setting because it makes bursts of acceleration less tempting (unless traffic conditions warrant it, and then I'm glad I'm not driving my diesel).

I was driving to work behind a Prius last week, and I noticed the driver used the brakes for half a mile before one turn. Seriously, it's only 45 mph through there, it's slightly uphill, and you don't have to stop for this turn, so it seemed premature ... unless you're trying to up the economy of your hybrid. You can coast to this turn, no brake and no accelerator, and get it about right. However, we were crawling to the turn, so of course I had time to watch my dashboard. I drive to work pretty often, and I always glance at the fuel economy as I straighten out from this turn. Braking, braking, braking, and I'm watching my fuel economy drop, drop, drop because we're going uphill and I needed to give the car a little gas to make it up at that speed. I lost badly at my fuel economy game that morning.

Which brings me to The Prius Irony: what the Prius driver does to increase Prius fuel economy just shoots my fuel economy all the way down. Yeah, that helps!

(When I notice another diesel on the road, I try to accommodate that too. Diesels are most efficient maintaining speed, so you avoid braking to improve economy. The Ford Reflex concept car, an electric-diesel hybrid, could be very cool by removing that penalty. And a well-tuned diesel isn't a terrible polluter. However, a gas engine needs a tune-up to keep the timing within 4 degrees, while a diesel can run albeit poorly and smokily with the timing off 20 degrees. So well tuned is critical, but then the efficiency is good. Plus bio-diesel is coming to my neck of the corn field.)