perhaps if they didn’t drive at 45mph in the carpool lane they wouldn’t be discriminated against.

I no longer use the lane personally…nowadays its slower than regular traffic due to the ONE person driving 50mph. Might as well sit in gridlock traffic.

Anyone else find it odd that they advocate hybrids for highway driving, when their only benefits are found in the city in stop and go traffic? Plus some hybrids get worse milage that comparable diesels or other small cars. It would make more sense to say a certain EPA Hwy milage gives permission to use the lanes, but comon, we’ve got these things everywhere here in Minnesota and they mostly just take up space during rush hour; open these lanes up to everyone and save all the extra gas lost during excessive stop and go traffic.

Ugh. How misleading! The rule is based on the mpg of the hybrid, not the manufacturer! The American automakers are trying to make it seem like the law discriminates against US manufacturers, when that has nothing to do with it. As an example, the new Lexus 400 hybrid suv does not get the HOV pass…

That would be a huge advantage in Atlanta, GA! Like Alex said tho’, as long as they aren’t driving 50 mph….

Ditto Alex

Hell, they all belong in the RL. Everyone knows they get better mileage going slow.

We faster drivers can adopt a Prieusss (sp?) driver and claim an average mileage – just like the car makers?!

j i m

How about we lose all “discrimination” here and let ALL vehicles that achieve an MPG target in the lane? Why limit the benefit to one particular technology when there are a few non-hybrids that should qualify based on rated MPG? Once again CA is teh suck.

HERE THE ANSWER, MAKE A US HYBRID THAT GETS 45 MPG!

THE FORD ESCAPE HYBRID GETS 31 CITY, THATS ONLY 2 MPG BETTER THAN THE NO HYBRID VERSION

QUIT CRYING FORD AND BUILD A BETTER CAR.

hahah really? only 2? damnit why are our domestic auto makers such full of sh!t…

Hybrids are efficient on the highway, because
the Insight has a 0.995 L engine,
the Civic has a 1.339 L engine,
and the Prius a 1.497 L engine.

You don’t need an electric motor boost to make small engines be fuel efficient. The electric motor is there for increased performance.

so what my M3 gets 30-40 mpg on the highway. I’m not going to be some smug bastard driving a hybrid around trying to get special treatment. They should just bring more diesels here and end this hybrid nonsense.

What sean said.

Let’s stick to the facts, shall we?
Escape 4-cylinder 2WD: 22 city /26 highway
Escape Hybrid 2WD: 36 city /31 highway

Quite good for an SUV.
But not stellar compared to an economy car.

Not stellar? Name a mass-produced gasoline powered car (non-hybrid) that I can buy today here in the US. That gets more than 31 mpg epa in city driving.

I’ve driven an Escape Hybrid one afternoon for a couple hours in inner-city driving (under 45 MPH speed zones) and averaged 43 mpg. Name any mass-produced gasoline powered car that will get within 15 mpg of that…

As a matter of fact, studying the epa charts, only the Prius, Civic and Insight Hybrids get better mpg than the Escape. Toyota and Honda’s Hybrid SUV’s are no closer than 3 mpg at best to the Escape. Seat 5 in a Prius or Insight, or try to haul something more than a couple suitcases, hmmm…

Additionally, Escape’s 2.3L engine is a PZEV, it is cleaner burning than any other Gasoline/Electric Hybrid, period.

Yes, get your facts straight…

p.s. GM doesn’t make a real Hybrid…

The problem with hybrids is that while they are more efficient, they are more harmful to the environment, as that article posted here a few weeks ago pointed out. So the whole purpose of them being in the carpool lane, which is because of environmental pollution and whatnot, is actually backwards. Lawmakers are just so willing to please, and get so caught up in the MPG that they fail to take into account how bad for the environment things like batteries are.

#2…

The August law, included in $286.5 billion highway-spending legislation, opened HOV lanes to hybrid vehicles with 50 percent better highway mileage, or 25 percent better combined mileage, than the identical gasoline-powered models. Ford’s Escape and Mercury Mariner Hybrid and GM’s Saturn Vue Green Line meet the federal standard.

WHUT you seem touchy today so I will spell it out for you. There are plenty of cars that get more than 31 mpg on the highway. Which is the whole point of the carpool-lane discussion.

Carpool lanes arent on city streets. They are on highways. Where cars drive fast.

A 400-hp Corvette gets 28 highway mpg. Nearly matching the Escape’s 31 highway figure.

31 mpg highway is not stellar. So no carpool lane for the Escape.

“Additionally, Escape’s 2.3L engine is a PZEV, it is cleaner burning than any other Gasoline/Electric Hybrid, period.”

Not true. There are plenty of PZEV gasoline cars out there, including various trim levels of (depending on engine choice):
2006 BMW 325Ci, Ford Focus models, Ford Fusion, Honda Accord, Hyundai Elantra, Kia spectra, Mazda 3, Mazda 6, Mazda Tribute, Mercedes E350, Mercury Milan, Mitsubishi Galant, Nissan Altima, Subaru Legacy, Subaru Outback, Toyota Camry, VW Beetle, VW Golf, VW Jetta, Volvo S40, Volvo V50, Volvo V70.

But you go ahead and believe whatever you want. Period.

http://www.driveclean.ca.gov/en/gv/vsearch/cleansearch_result.asp?vehicletypeid=16

when I first read this, I did think that if it’s fair for any hybrid to only have one passenger, then any hybrid ought to because its a purely political issue since none of them, when carrying only a single occupant cuts the amount of fuel per person for any given distance as much as driving a full minivan. However, if they’re just trying to encourage fuel conservation of any kind, I think it ought to purely be a minimum mpg rate, in which case hybrids aren’t that special on the highway. I’m pretty sure a corvette, which could NEVER get anywhere near the 36 mpg of an escape hybrid in the city, could actually get near-as-dammit to 31 mpg on the highway, in which case a hard-and-fast “hybrids allowed” rule wouldn’t make sense. But if you limit it to hybrids over a certain mpg level, that’s not fair to jetta tdi drivers, since they usually do as well on the highway as hybrids or better. so….

I’m with the “minimum 40 mpg hwy” crowd.

Junkie, I’m talking about Ford’s 2.3L Atkinson-cycle engine combined with the hybrid electric technology in any of their vehicles…While there are a number of PZEV rated vehicles, this one is the cleanest gasoline/electric powered mass-produced, by the numbers.

Note that over half the list is Mercury, Ford, Mazda and Volvo (all Ford vehicles using the same basic engine architecture).

No it’s not. A hybrid SUV that gets worse milage than a civic does not deserve the carpool lane. Otherwise, we would see hybrids that get 20 mpg in the carpool lane. Unacceptable.

It’s amazing the claims that people make… you all have computers and obviously the internet or you wouldn’t be reading or posting on this site. So do yourself a favor and verify your statements before you post them as fact.

My post said nothing about highway MPG on the Escape, I didn’t even state that they should or shouldn’t be allowed in the carpool lane.

All I said is:
#1 there is no mass produced, gasoline powered (non hybrid) passenger car that gets better than 31 mpg _city_ (I only know of one at that) which is still a minimum 5 mpg less than the Escape FWD Hybrid’s 36 MPG _city_. The numbers are in black and white on EPA’s data.
#2 The 2.3L PZEV I4 Atkinson-cycle is the cleanest emission gas/electric mass-produced hybrid on the market. Check it.

The Silverado/Siera doesn’t get _any_ better fuel economy with it’s electric truck, check EPA. Don’t even call it a hybrid, it does nothing to propel the vehicle.

By the way, my personal opinion is that the carpool lane should only allow vehilces with multiple passengers, or a single passenger vehicle if the vehicle gets over 45 mpg highway. So, in this case, I agree, no Escape Hybrid in the left lane, unless it has at least two passengers riding.

But, I also think that if the driver doesn’t drive with the speed of other traffic in the left lane, multiple pasenger or hybrid or not, they should get the heck out of the lane. Carpool lanes are meant to express traffic through during the heaviest traffic flow, slow traffic inhibits this in the left lane.