UKC

Please look at the chart near the bottom 'PETROL VEHICLES WITH 120g/km CO2 OR LESS'

http://www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk/information/how-to-use-the-data-tables.asp...

How come the TOYOTA prius produces 104g of CO2 per km but uses MORE fuel than the SMART Roadster which produces 116g?

Surely all the carbon in the fuel is converted to CO2? Otherwise it wouldnt be efficient!? So surely on that basis CO2 emissions would be directly related to fuel consuption?

Clearly it isnt! But I want to know why it isnt, as the only reason i can think of is that the TOYOTA prius isnt burning all of its fuel!

(And that would be even worse for the environment!)

Cheers!

Mat

In reply to atnoo:


Are you sure you're reading the table right? The Prius has a fuel consumption of 65.7 mpg, while the Smartcar has a fuel consumption of 57.6 mpg, so the Prius travels further than the Smartcar for the same amount of petrol, or putting it another way, the Prius uses 0.015 of a gallon to travel a mile, while the Smartcar uses 0.017 of a gallon to travel the same distance - the Prius uses less fuel than the Smartcar.

In reply to tony:


oops

In reply to matnoo:
Should have asked about the C1 diesel (the highest MPG)having a greater CO2 output than the Prius.
Always though diesel produced less carbon, or was that simply a biproduct of diesel cars having low fuel consumption?
Makes one wonder why no diesel hybrids about, surely 75-80mpg would be viable. Any in the pipeline?

In reply to desmond_burnett: Diesel has longer carbon chains. So when burnt in teh enging they produce more energy but also more CO2 if fully combusted. Takes a lot more O2 so when the engine is under load and not fuylly burning the fuel products other than CO2 and H2O are produced. These being Carbon particulates carbon monoxide and unburnt hydrocarbons. 'S why when i boot my car in an overtake it puts out a small cloud of smoke (to be fair petrols do eth same but fewer carbon particulates).

In reply to kevster747: Cheers, everyday a school day.

In reply to desmond_burnett: Normally charge £30 an hour for tuition but this is free due to so many errors in spelling.