I snapped this photo while driving southbound on California’s Interstate 5 recently. We all know that Prius owners tend to be a bit smug, but this vanity plate takes the cake.
Click for a larger image
Now before anyone gets all bent out of shape, I’ll point out that I own and drive an electric car myself. But I don’t go rubbing other peoples noses in my wattage.
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What bothered me was the decision by California to allow Prius owners to use the carpool lanes. During a commute of any significant duration, a Jetta diesel is going to get better mileage than the Prius. But if the Prius is left in the congested regular lanes, it gets significantly better fuel mileage than a conventional car. By allowing them into the carpool lane, the State of California eliminated the hybrid’s advantage over conventional vehicles and caused a REDUCTION in energy savings.
Oh, and I believe that “Suckers” comment is a message to people stuck in the slower lanes. If you look at the right corner of the rear bumper, you will notice the sticker that allows that car to use HOV lanes with only one person in the car.
They only help in city driving!!!!!
my Lincoln gets 32+ on the hyw lol
Although I know that AGW is a scam, I drive a Hyundai i30. In the Australian “Panasonic World Solar Challenge” which is mainly for experimental vehicles, the i30 CRDi consumed just 3.2 L per 100km and emitted just 97g of CO2 per kilometer over the 3,000km journey from Darwin to Adelaide whereas the “Suckers” in the Prius consumed 5.6L per 100km and emitted 146g of CO2 per kilometre
http://www.hyundai.com.au/Hyundai-i30-CRDi-tops-Greenfleet-class-of-Panasonic-World-Solar-Challenge/default.aspx
Reminiscent of South Park’s Prius smug alert and Gore’s dire warnings of the man-bear-pig (half man, half bear, half pig).
Electric/hybrid owners often don’t take into account the embodied energy in manufacture and transport of new vehicles for sale (or any goods for this matter), and what type of technology generated the electricity to run them. For many a Prius is carbon neutral but this is of course an illusion.
People with an attitude such as displayed by that plate show the world their true character and it is lacking. What sort of person takes pleasure in others being more financially burdened than they are?
Suckers? Wankers more like, lost in their own personal cloud of smug.
South Park nailed these people and their Pious cars years ago. Around the time they were asking someone to come out of the closet, if I recall correctly.
I leased a Prius for about the last year over here in the UK. It just went back though as too pricey! Compared to a really efficient 1.4 TDI Diesel (which I now have, remember this is the UK not your 3.0 stuff in the states!) . I was getting around 55MPG in the Prius, but had to leave the A/C off or it dropped to around 48MPG. (Not that I needed it in the UK Summer this year anyway!)
The new Diesel I have does 68MPG. The problem with the Prius is it’s 10 years> old design. They still ain’t gone Lithium to increase the electric range, and they talk of a plug-in and they are in testing on Europe, but still a few years off.
One thing, though, next year’s 2009 model will have Solar Panels fitted to its roof, to power the A/C in the Summer! Doubt I would find it useful over here though! May be 0ver there it prove another enhancement to the Prius’s status symbol!
With a couple of square meters (max) of solar panels, you might generate 300 watts of electricity unless you drive on two wheels with the car tipped toward the sun. That won’t power much of an A/C unit. Publicity stunt.
At 3 below here in southern Colorado, at 4:45 AM, solar doesn’t help much. Give me something with a real heater. I drive less than 7000 miles per year. Insurance costs more than gas.
Common sense isn’t that common.
OT: AP has this story: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/12/14/time-running-obama-curb-global-warming/
It’s true. If Congress and the new president don’t do something soon, the world may cool off all by itself. Then they can’t take credit for it.
Thanks for the ‘wattage’ pun.
CO2 is Not a poison! What a waste of money chasing after Al Gore’s smoke and mirror Carbon Offset Trading. Worse than Pyramid Scam projects. Prius is a marketing con using Greenie propaganda.
Great to have good economy but cutting CO2 emissions is Don Quixote stuff.
And as for windmills!!!!! How many were generating power during the US East Coast ice storm?
Usually, vanity plates refer to the owners of the car. This is obviously the case here (whether intended or not). I paid $1.45 for gas this weekend. The owners of this car are lamenting that they were suckers for buying the car. At least that’s how I see it.
Ask yourself where you would prefer to see your kids in a collision with another car. I’ll stick to my SUV, thank you. Nothing like putting passengers at risk because of a made up crisis.
And I’m not sure I’d want the authorities seeing that photo…taking photos while driving? They could bust you for wreckless and negligent driving!
The guy is right, and doing everybody a favor by pointing it out. All the guys stuck in the slow lane are suckers. And the more resentment his plate builds, the better.
“The problem with the Prius is it’s 10 years> old design. ”
In 1979, (the height of my hippy years) I was an avid reader of a publication known as Mother Earth News. I purchased plans for a D.I.Y. project to convert an Opel GT car to what would now be called a hybrid. You removed the Opel’s motor, replaced it with an electric jet engine starting motor, and installed a battery bank with a small generator powered by a Briggs and Stratton 5hp engine, in the trunk. The car got 75mpg.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Green-Transportation/1979-07-01/An-Amazing-75-MPG-Hybrid-Electic-Car.aspx
So I’d say the technology is more like 30yrs old?
JimB
The Top Gear program on the dreaded BBC did a test run in the Prius and found it did less to the gallon ($6) than the average 1.6 diesel. Interestingly the Honda station wagon diesel does nearly 60 mile to the gallon (mpg) on the hwy and 55 urban. A lot more than the prius. he he
The Chevy Volt (should GM actually survive) is a far better technology than current Hybrids. The Li ion Battery in the Volt will give me 40 miles all electric (and I RARELY, as in maybe 1- 2 times/year drive more than 40 miles during the week) and then the on board generator (currently gas, but could be fit with fuel cell or natural gas generator) keeps the batteries charged to 30% capacity until you can plug the beast in. Virtually unlimited range. The biggest difference in the Volt/Prius is that the gas generator NEVER drives the vehicle, it merely charges the batteries.
I’m waiting to see if the Ultracapacitor technology can be made viable for vehicular use. Ultracapacitors give 300-350 mile range, 5 minute recharge (with the right equipment – or 3-5 hours on US house current), 0 pollution, lifetime in excess of the car chassis. Currently EESTOR is ‘claiming’ to have a 300lb Ultracapacitor that delivers 52Kw, they were supposed to show it for test in December but have delayed that, claiming ‘funding’ issues. I’m hoping this isn’t another ‘cold fusion’ technology. If it isn’t it revolutionizes the transport industry. Also, supposedly, they claim to be offering a 100 mi range Ultracapacitor bike in 2009. We’ll see.
That and if those wild Canadians at General Fusion produce something that actually works, we could end up with workable fusion plants in 10 years.
Yeah, I’m an eternal optimist, glass half full, kinda guy.
No good thread for this, except that Montrealers may be reveling in smug today.
Montreal: 37F heading for 45F (3C to 7C)
Austin TX: 37F, heading for 39F
No real significance, except to reflect the “highly amplified” jet stream of recent weeks.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081214/D952LKP00.html
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081214/D952LKP00.html
From the above…
“We’re out of time,” Stanford University biologist Terry Root said. “Things are going extinct.”
The only thing that I think will go extinct are the AGW crowd’s beliefs in about 10 years…
Panic!!!!!
There are economic reasons for driving a hybrid. When gas was $4.50 a gallon, they were looking pretty good. But the ROI was still 8 years at that fuel price. Gas will probably return to $4.50 to $5.00 a gallon once the economy improves. Also, there is a good chance Congress and Obama will slap a very hefty surtax on gasoline.
In the mean time I purchased a large gas guzzler SUV for rock bottom prices last summer. Just three years ago these monsters used sold for $20,000 to $24000. I got mine for under $6000, and the dealer was more than happy to get it off his lot. I may regret my purchase later, but right now in the winds and snows of the Great Lakes I am very happy for a large powerful 4 wheel drive.
Anthony,
I would love to have an economical electric car for commuting back and forth to town (11 miles) or to the golf course (14 miles)(I could probably drive it right onto the fairway). The main concern I have is safety. Here in central Maine there are very few days in the year when you don’t need air conditioning or more importantly – heat.
I think I would have difficulty controlling the leaded beast while shivering my a$$ off and peering through a two inch frost free peephole. Do you know of any electric car variations that address these creature comfort problems? I’m willing to make some sacrifices but I really don’t want my skin welded to the leather seats on a hot summer day.
REPLY: Check your email – Anthony
P Folkens (00:01:10) :
“…the man-bear-pig (half man, half bear, half pig).”
Well, this is old “news” 😉 but just in case someone hasn’t seen it yet:
“Scientists successfully create human-bear-pig chimera (manbearpig)”
http://www.thinkgene.com/scientists-successfully-create-human-bear-pig-chimera/
“Al Gore could not be reached for comment.” 😉
Electricity is like windpower and oil. It is a limited resource and will soon become as expensive as any other power source. Once current dams are at capacity, it will be nearly impossible to build more. The only other option would be coal-fired steam generators. Good luck getting that going. The sucker is the person who doesn’t understand where or how electricity is generated and just exactly what it would take to generate more of it. It don’t grow on trees.
Being a mech engineer and knowing a thing or two about turning potential energy into mechanical energy, every time I see someone in a hybrid I think to myself, “what a sucker”. Hybrids only work in the right situation. Hybrids cost twice as much and do no better and sometimes worse.