November 19, 2012

Dutch Prius drivers use too much petrol

Filed under: Automobiles,Sustainability,Technology by Branko Collin @ 11:25 pm

A study by broadcaster NOS shows that owners of plug-in hybrid eletric cars use “80 percent more fuel than the fuel economy estimates found in the manufacturers’ specifications”, Autoblog writes.

The article suggests that car owners buy their Priuses for the government rebates more than for saving the environment. Government incentives include “no purchase tax, zero percent additional tax liability and no road tax until 2016” according to the article. Car owners can request charging stations near their house according to Verkeersnet. The city of Utrecht even throws in a free parking spot.

On average the drivers in the study paid 73 euro more per month than expected by using petrol when they could be using electricity.

Some of the people in the study managed to only achieve a petrol use of 13 kilometres per litre, others got to a far more respectable 250 kilometres per litre.

(Photo by DaveOnFlickr, some rights reserved)

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