You mean MPH?

 

24 MPG on the highway. 300 mile trip. Agressive Driving!

Around town seemed certainly higher.

 

It's sounding more and more like at least with the RX400H, there is really no economy benefit to the hybrid setup. The more I learn about hybrids in general, the more they look like hype.

 

Ask how the milage is on the combustion-only RX330 is and we'll see =P

 

The 400 truly has power that rivals V8 trucks. Beyond that, on the highway, it has power that rivals many sports cars.

If you take a V8 SUV that can do 0-60 in 7.3 seconds and compare it against the 400 around town mileage will be roughly 2-2.5 times better. Those are impressive numbers.

 

http://www.greenhybrid.com/compare/mileage/

 

Toy4two, thanks for the link. Once they get a larger sample, this will be exactly the reference point a lot of us have been looking for.

By the way, in my previous post, I did mean MPH.

 

1st tank: 23.5 mpg.
2nd tank: 26.7 mpg.
Last SUV I owned: 14 mpg.

After the break in period, it should be even higher. This hybrid system is working just fine for me, thanks.

 

The current Hybrid technology is a marketing gimmick not an engineered solution to a complicated energy policy.

1) An extra 200-400 lbs of mass comes from the electronic motors and batteries. Resulting in more energy and polution created from the manufacturing process. It takes alot of fossil fuel energy to melt and form 200 lbs of steel, aluminum, and cooper.

2) Ni-Mh batteries will last no more than 5 years. The process to reclaim the heavy metals from batteries produces toxic gases/chemicals and requires fossil fuel energy to accomplish.

3) Accidents where batteries are reptured will release toxic chemicals onto city streets. Local responce crews will have treat the area as a Haz-Mat danger. Thus the chemicals will have to be contained, recovered, and then later disposed.

5) How long with the complex coupling systems for the dual power train last? What will the resale value be on a vehicle who'se drivetrain has a limited life (or a 5k battery replacement bill)

6) If someone buys an RX400 Hybrid for its under quicker acceleration, should that person get a tax break? I think not.

 

Not nearly as much pollution as a new Ford GT accelerating through city streets for 5 years.
There are fleets of Prius' out there with plus 200k miles on them with no battery problems at all. The Lexus warranty is 100,000 miles which translates to roughly 8 years under normal driving.
There are many requirements for locating these batteries in the vehicle. Firstly, normal car batteries can cause problems and are typically mounted in an area to do so when in a front end collision. The primary Hybrid batteries are located in the center of the vehicle. Even in side collisions it seems pretty unlikely to cause anymore damage than normally occurs. Besides that Panasonic's web site has this message regarding these batteries:

Nickel Metal Hydride -- All Panasonic Nickel Metal Hydride batteries are classified by the federal government as a non-hazardous waste and are safe for disposal in the normal municipal waste stream. Exception: California, which requires non-households to dispose of these batteries in accordance with the California Universal Waste Rules. These batteries, however, do contain recyclable materials and are accepted for recycling by the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation's (RBRC) Battery Recycling Program. Please call 1-800-8-BATTERY for information on recycling your used Nickel Metal Hydride battery or go to the RBRC website at www.rbrc.org for additional information.
This is all proven technology. I'd argue that the lack of transmission, transfer case, and driveshafts provide for less mechanical parts to give way. The CVT transmission Leonardo da Vinci conceptualized 500 years ago. And it's first patent was filed in 1886. CVT's are just pulley based systems that ride on a cone to provide variable gear ratios. There are no gears though. This makes the concept much simpler and certainly more reliable than that of a transmission.

The RX400 also has no belts running off the gas engine for the steering pump and AC Compressor, this also makes things a bit more reliable.

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I believe so. The 400 produces 90% less fog forming emissions. That in itself is worth it. Production costs to produce larger gas engines have a much greater negative impact on the environment that electric motors. At least the 400 is moving in the right direction.

 

My second tank faired approx 23 mpg. Most of those miles were on the highway, so I'm not sure if I'm truly getting much better mileage. I'll keep trying.

 

Third tank so far, and I've gone from 23 to 26 to 29. This is a good trend.

 

Hey, its me again hahha.

I'm actually working at a Toyota Dealship now in the Bay Area. The Highlander Hybrid and the Rx400h is basically the same car. Our Highlander Hybrid is not going to be out until June July but our rep from SF Region brought a highlander over and was showing us about the vehicle. He was telling us that he was averaging 25mpg. He does about 75% driving on the freeway so currently he is averaging 25mpg. But he said if he tried hard enuff, he would be able to get better.

The system is similar to the Toyota Prius so here are a few tips when driving the car.

Ease on the Gas Pedel.
Dont do hard accelerations
Brake earlier and gradually, try not to do hard brakes
Try coasting the car more often then stepping on the gas pedel
On the Prius when i ease on the gas pedal slowly, on a flat road, i can get the Prius up to 40mph without kicking in the gas engine
keep the windows up

theres prob a few more tips, but thats all i can think of now.

I got a chance to drive the highlander around the block... and man, does these hybrid systems PULL, they are awsome, i love the power in it. Maybe someday, my 300 will change to a 400 or a highlander hahah

 

29mpg thats better than 28mpg im getting in my corolla

 

Driving the 400h for several hundred miles now, I completely agree with your tips. If you can get in the habbit of moving this car without running the gas engine you will get tremendous mileage. To do that you must accelerate at no greater that 5-8% pedal position. On the highway, it is nearly impossible to maintain 60-70 without deploying the gas engine but around town you can.

Even with moderate to hard driving, you'll still do pretty well.