In response to your question on cabin heating, the EPA fuel tests are dynomometer based and NO accessories are on. There is no radio, no compressor if hot, no fan, no wipers, no headlights, no defrosters, etc. Even for the diesel, because the fan in the climate system is off, there is probably insufficient heat. When these accessories are on, they will affect fuel economy in gasoline, diesel, and electric powered vehicles, probably somewhat differently. The sense of these rules can certainly be questioned, but they are the rules.
Actually, some diesels have insufficient waste heat for cabin heating and need supplemental electric heating; obviously that is a big hit on fuel economy. A few have used supplemental diesel heaters (small fuel-oil furnances). ________________________________ From: Stanislav Jakuba <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Tue, December 7, 2010 8:25:48 PM Subject: [USMA:49050] electric car Attached is a follow-up info about the diesel vs. electric car. The respective consumption numbers are in the units of both: distance-per-energy (ala mpg) and energy-per-distance (ala L/km). Aside from showing the units, I should like to point out that the 50 mpg for the VW is exceptionally good. But also the EPA estimate for the Leaf is probably optimistic, and I wonder how much consumption was accounted for the cabin heating, if any. A point of interest: a 32 mpg diesel would equal the 34 L/100 km Leaf in the table. A newspaper quoted a $120,000 Tesla buyer reasoning for his purchase by this energy analysis: "I can go from 0 to 60 on a penny's worth of energy vs. a buck's worth of energy [with a Porsche or similar]." The attached table helps to see the fallacy. And the comparison comes out worse yet when one realizes that "990 lb of the 2700 lb car is in the batteries." The Excel attachment shows an SAE survey of mass vs. consumption increase. That wealthy buyer's statement indicates how ignorant the general public is about energy issues. Among the reasons for the ignorance? The mess of non-SI units in use. And the lack of education that is partially due to the mess. Stan Jakuba
