Do hybrid cars work well on hill and short distances?

Question

Hi.

Does anyone know if hybrid cars are as fuel efficient on hills as opposed to level roads? I live on a small island where there are plenty of hills and one has to brake often due to the short distances - so you usually can't go over a certain speed ( say 45 miles or so before having to slow down or stop ).

Does that also affect fuel consumption?

Gas prices here are pretty expensive - so I'm checking to see if it is worth it to invest in a hybrid vehicle.

Thanks

Answer 1

They are less fuel efficient on hills, but so are regular cars. Overall, you are still saving gas with a hybrid. Stopping and going, too, are going to hurt your fuel efficiency, regardless of what you drive. May as well get the hybrid.

Answer 2

why are you scared of hybrids? :)

They do extremely well in small towns where there's a lot of stop and go. They can borrow and regenerate into the battery.

Hills - depends on the hill.  If you mean long mountain grade, no car handles that well.  But if you mean short hills like for a block, or a lot of up-down-up-down, again hybrids win because they can use regenerative brake to go down the hill, and use that power later to climb it :)

It depends too on how you drive.  Watch the MPG meter and experiment, you'll be able to greatly increase your MPG.

Every hybrid made so far has a strong gas engine.  Eventually you'll see hybrids with "weak" engines, but those will have extremely strong electric motors.

Answer 3

Short stop-and-go trips are what make the hybrids shine...they cut the gas engine at long stops which prevents unessecary idling.

Hills are a different matter...most hybrids use a small weak gas engine that has a hard time pulling its own weight (which the electric motor supplements for a short burst)