Just weeks before the 2008 LA Auto Show, hybrid car and powertrain
maker AFS Trinity is pulling out after saying that show management
“muzzled” them by disallowing claims that their highly modified Saturn
Vue plug-in hybrids can achieve 150 mpg.
In a statement,
AFS Trinity said that “carmakers continue to seek tens of billions of
taxpayer dollars, ostensibly to develop fuel-efficient vehicle
technologies, but their conduct is evidence they are reluctant to
embrace solutions they didn’t invent.”
In the show management’s defense, AFS Trinity’s 150 mpg claim is
associated with a specific driving pattern which may or may not
represent average driving conditions. If their hybrids are driven 40
miles per day for 6 days and then 80 miles on one day of the week, they
use about 2 gallons to go 300 miles — which equals 150 mpg.
Because plug-in hybrids are such new technology, there is no agreed
upon method to estimate fuel economy. Typically, a plug-in hybrid can
drive up to 40 miles per day without needing to use any fuel, and
beyond 40 miles the engine kicks in and charges a battery which then
powers the car. If you only drive more than 40 miles once in a blue
moon, you could have a rather ridiculous fuel economy of several
thousand miles per gallon.
What, then, is an appropriate way to rate the fuel economy of these
new types of cars? An email from LA Auto Show management to AFS Trinity
states:
“We cannot approve this content . . . the mileage claim
is of primary concern to us. Manufacturers are forced to quote EPA
verified mpg numbers in their advertising, and . . . [your] 150-MPG
figure is an estimation. A banner like this one in the lobby is likely
to generate unfavorable reactions from manufacturers, which is
something we will take action to avoid.”
AFS countered that no concept or prototype car at the auto show has
its fuel economy certified by EPA prior to being exhibited, and told
show management they would change their promotional materials to say
that the 150 mpg claim is an “estimate.” In response, AFS Trinity was
told that no materials would be accepted in any form that made a claim
of 150 mpg and that the issue was “no longer a topic for further
discussion.”
EPA has been struggling with how to rate the fuel economy of plug-in hybrids — the most recent being a spat between EPA and GM about how to rate the upcoming Chevy Volt.
So, for the LA Auto Show management to claim that AFS Trinity is not
using approved EPA methods to estimate fuel economy, they’re kind of
off base, because even the EPA doesn’t really know how to rate fuel
economy with some of the new alternative powered vehicles.
AFS Trinity says they will be exhibiting their extreme hybrids
elsewhere in downtown LA during the auto show. I’ll be sure to go check
their cars out while I’m down there to see what all the hoopla’s about.
Image Credit and Source: AFS Trinity Power Corporation
