Reply #48: Are you sure about that?

[muriel_volestrangler]

For instance, the Chevrolet Volt, a series hybrid, will get about 50mpg when running off the gasoline engine, about the same as the Prius.

That article mentions the EPA used to use a methodology for hybrids that really wasn't much use. I wonder if this Jaguar figure (which sounds European, being g/km) is similarly misleading.

I'd question whether a series hybrid is 'vastly more efficient' than any other type of use of an ICE engine. Why should generating electricity, and using it at once, be much more efficient than using the mechanical power directly? There is the advantage of running at the most efficient speed for the required load, but that's just what you get from a well-chosen gear ratio, or a continuously variable transmission. To be 3 times as efficient doesn't sound feasible.