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Driving Miss Crazy

Adventures, observations and never short of an automotive opinion.

Dec 8, 2007 - Are mild hybrids like low fat cookies?

While in the office this week I kept hearing "well, that's not a true hybrid, it's a mild hybrid".  I get that the car isn't 100% electric but at what point does a vehicle go from 'mild hybrid' to hybrid?  Is it like a low fat cookie v. a fat-free cookie?

Well, curiousity got the best of me and I headed into the halls of research to find out.  I also headed to the grocery store to see if my cookie analogy held true.  I'm happy to say, it did.

Mild hybrids are defined as those with an electric motor which provides assistance to the gasoline engine but lacks the power to drive the vehicle on its own.   Yes, you save gas because the gasoline engine shuts down when the vehicle stops.  No idle vapors straying from your vehicle.  The 2008 Saturn Aura Hybrid and 2008 Chevy Malibu Hybrid are in the mild hybrid camp. 

A full hybrid can run alone on the electric motor for shorter distances, but don't try and top out the speedometer.   Yes, the trusty Toyota Prius is what most people think of. 

What's the difference in fat consumed?  Um, make that gasoline consumed? 

Wiping the crumbs off of my desk and chugging a glass of skim milk, I'll take the 50 calories in Nabisco's Snackwells Fat-Free Chocolate Devil's Food Cookies over the 2g of fat in Newman's Own Lowfat Fig Newmans (sorry Paul).  And while I pine for 8g of fat in the Pepperidge Farms Sausalito Cookie (which if they could ever make fat-free I'd sell the dog's soul for a case), I'd like to keep both my carbon footprint and my buttprint from expanding.

If you are looking to count calories and fat grams, check out The Daily Plate.

If you are looking for advice on hybrid vehicles, read the 2008 Hybrid Buying Guide as I'm sure you'll find it quite helpful in your quest to understand the different shades of green.

7:05 pm | Categories: hybrids
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Comments
thegreenguy - Jan 30, 2008 11:46 am
Very good analogy made something complicated easy to understand! :)
autoboy16 - Jan 6, 2008 10:01 am
Great BLOG!! How did you get the pictures in columns like that? I'm working on a blog but I'm having picture trouble. On the cookies, then if you get low fat cookies, then do you use, regular milk, soy milk, fat free milk, or 2%? -Cj
blkbr0tha - Dec 21, 2007 8:25 am
Well- no fears- with the new legislation put in place for stricter fuel efficiency- we can soon look forward to a lot more REAL HYBRIDS or FFV's. Flexible Fuel Vehicles buring grass and cellulosic biomass materials! lol No more gass guzzlers- but in reality I hate to say this. Consumers will not be gaining anything. Ethenol proeducts as theystand now are just as expensive as regular gasoline, and by the time ethanol demand catches up with supplies- we could all be looking at more $$ for fuel! But hey- we might pay more at the pump, but at least our great great great grand kids will be breathing cleaner air as they live out of cardboard boxes :)
d0li0 - Dec 15, 2007 12:10 am
The question isn't is it "Mild" or not, but is it a "Real" Hybrid, and what about the car is hybrid in nature? All current production Hybrids are 100% gas fueled and do no plug in and use electricity as a fuel. Sure, they have regenerative braking, but that comes from the energy that you already spent getting up to speed, using gas. And they recharge with the engine which burns gas, but they can't be recharged with other fuels, like electricity. So yes, they are "hybrid powered", but they are not "hybrid fueled" which is probably far more important than how mild, medium, or spicy their gas engine and electric motor(s) are. Don't you think?
kcram - Dec 10, 2007 2:50 pm
On the other hand, my Ram 3500 diesel gets ar least the same mileage as a Ram 1500 Hemi, even though it weighs a full ton more. So does that make the 1500 a Double Whopper with bacon and my 4x4 dually a giant turkey burger? Um, no.
Sylvia - Dec 10, 2007 11:39 am
Probably an HUMMER Stretch limo!
MsAdventure - Dec 10, 2007 11:36 am
Hmmm... I wonder what vehicle a cheesecake would be analogous to? An H3???
editor_karl - Dec 10, 2007 11:21 am
Maybe we could apply the "fat" count terminology to carbon footprints? Thus a zero-emission vehicle is "Carbon Free" while a PZEV or ULEV is "Low Carbon" and classic muscle cars are "High, Saturated Carbon" vehicles. Of course, "carbon" sounds an awful lot like "carbs" so people may confuse your automobile comments with your diet comments. "Yep, I just started my low-carbon-commuting excercise program after buying a Prius." "That's great. You could stand to lose a few pounds." "What?!"
steve_ - Dec 10, 2007 7:23 am
The Daily Plate? It's more fun to put the cars on a diet than me. A lot easier too!
kirstie_h - Dec 10, 2007 6:37 am
But is the Snackwell as fun to drive as the Pepperidge Farm? Unfortunately, I think my car is the equivalent of Oreo Double-Stuffs!
karens - Dec 9, 2007 12:04 pm
Wow, you made it all so easy to understand! And I'm with ya on the Pepperidge Farm cookies.
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