In article ,
John Wright wrote:
That's all been thought of - the 2004 onwards Prius (and other related
hybrids like the Ford Escape, Lexus Rx400h etc) have electric power
steering and air conditioning as well as the normal services. These
two are special since they aren't normally electric.

Electric power steering has been common on smaller cars for years. Less
wasteful since you don't have a hydraulic pump running all the time.
However, it doesn't give as good a 'feel' as hydraulic - although I'm sure
this will improve.

Prior to 2004 the
air conditioning didn't work when the petrol engine was stopped.

It is said that using the air conditioning in cold weather in a Prius
really hammers the fuel consumption though.

That's the trouble with the Prius - most just quote the wonderful fuel
consumption it can achieve under some conditions - and think it therefore
does this all the time. When Autocar did a full road test including
maximum speed runs and acceleration and brake testing - as they do with
all cars - the overall consumption of that roughly 1000 mile test came out
at 23 mpg. So a planet saver it's not. ;-)

Cars tend to be poorly insulated heat wise, as anyone knows when parked up
in this weather - the car will soon become too cold inside. Or similarly
too hot in the summer. The HVAC system on a conventional vehicle will soon
remedy this - but on a battery vehicle will make a big difference to the
range. Of course better insulation will help, but this adds weight which
is death to a battery vehicle already saddled with a heavy battery pack.

--
*Why is it that to stop Windows 95, you have to click on "Start"?

Dave Plowman London SW
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