Originally Posted by
FlyingKiwi_73
Hands up now all those who bought a Prius, do you feel like a tit?
The biggest have in automotive history.... with the exception of the PT Cruiser (hey want an older looking new car... heres one we mangled earlier) you burn exactly how much less fuel a year... a thimble... well done
, unless you just bimble to shops it useless... I'm all for planet saving gadgets but don't put a pigs ear in a box and sell me a purse.
When you can do a X-country land and 're-fuel' at a remote airfeild- (an extension cord will do) then i'd be interested.
but why oh why put this technology into and airframe designed 50+ years ago. take advantage of the advances in composites and aerodynamics, build somethign really slippery, then you'd save a lot more power than dragging an in-effecient airframe through the sky.
I average 24mpg city and 33mpg highway with a conventional 2.5L 4cyl 4 door compact/midsize. EPA says the 2009 Prius gets 48mpg city and 45mpg highway. That's a significant difference. Since even the most fuel efficient of conventional cars get crap mileage in city driving (constantly accelerating and then braking means most of the energy you burn to go just gets turned into heat by the brakes right afterwards), that's where the Prius really shines. What are you trying to get at by calling Prius owners tits?
A new airframe is a high risk development. A new mode of propulsion is a high risk development. Put them together and the whole program is just asking to fail. Better to try out the new propulsion technology on a proven platform than to try to design a brand-new airplane around what is effectively a prototype. History shows us that, for the most part, the big successful companies have tried to avoid putting a brand-new engine on a brand-new airframe in order to avoid putting too much risk in the program. An example of what happens when you try to put a new engine on a new airframe: 787. Boeing took a huge risk on that program, and while they're about to finally get it finished up (it's turning out quite well, too), it's been riddled with delays.