I''ll be in hybrid car focus group tomorrow

[kenny]

There may not be much car manufacturing in Southern California but the car makers have their ears to the ground here.
They think Southern Californian drivers set the trends that will spread around the country.
Some of the big car companies have design centers here.

I just passed the phone interview so I have been invited to a 4-hour brain-picking session tomorrow.
Actually the gal couldn't believe how much I knew about hybrids and electric vehicles.
She said they are going to just gobble me up tomorrow.
Oh, and they are paying me $250 and feeding us lunch.

It is not a manufacturer but a research group that sells the data to the car companies.

I just bought my third hybrid car and I average over 60 MPG using many of the standard hypermiling techniques.
But I do not draft (tailgate semi trucks) or turn the engine off when the car is moving.

I'm such a geek!

 

[VRBeauty]

Yay Kenny! Go tell them to get their butts moving on introducing plug-in hybrids! And to start marketing the electric car (and hybrid) fun factor!

And have fun!

 

[kenny]

I will VR.

You know I am such a hybrid fanatic I'd do this for free.

I'm going to drive extra carefully to it and try to get the MPG meter on the dash to read over 70 MPG. (EPA on the car is 40/43.)
I've done it before, but it may not be hot enough to achieve this today.

Some of the energy in gas goes into heating the engine block.
Colder air removes the heat so more gas goes into heating the engine in the winter, reducing our gas mileage.

BTW Aptera claims a regular car going 60 mph uses over half of the gas just to push air out of the way - hence the Aptera's aerodynamic low-drag design.
Even a man on a bicycle has more drag than an Aptera.

They did ask me to describe what a plug-in hybrid is and to list all the ones I had heard about.
The lady told me I responded with more knowledge than anyone else she had interviewed.

BTW, I have been on the waiting list for an Aptera for over a year.
I think my number will come up in about a year.
If it has the cargo area I need for my work I'll buy one.
If not I will get back my $500 deposit.

They make two models, an all electric plug in model, and a gas/electric plug in hybrid with extended range.
The latter gets around 300 MPG though it does also get energy from the electricity it uses from the wall.
If your usage is such that you can plug it in before it stars needed to use any gas you get "unlimited" MPG.
If you drive it as far as it can go on a full charge (and a full tank of gas) the MPG pencils out to around 300 MPG, though it obviously went SOME of those miles on the electric energy it got from your wall.
So the reported MPG will always be somewhat ambiguous.

 

[luv2sparkle]

Kenny, my husband loves the Aptera as well. He would love to have one. He would so be into doing the hybrid focus group. Sounds
very interesting. I can''t wait to hear all about it.

I guess my DH is a geek too. I was reading him your posts and as he says, I really pulled his string.

 

[kenny]

luv, I'll let you know all about it.

Here is a little video about Aptera .