Woah... why are the prices so much higher at your Costco? Those Feit 40W-equivalent bulbs are less than $1 each at ours.

Right. Turn on your electric stove. It makes light, right? When was the last time THAT element burned out?

On the other hand, it pulls a kilowatt and makes like half a lumen of really orange light.

He's correct in the way that matters for his usage, actually. I wasn't aware that there was no "EP" speed for UK VHS. If we compare LP to LP or SP to SP, a UK VHS tape is about 43% different than an NTSC VHS tape. He, however, is comparing UK "LP" to US "EP", and is correct.

That's the difference in a nutshell...

"The tape speed is 3.335 cm/s for NTSC, 2.339 cm/s for PAL."

A difference of ~1.43x. A VHS tape labelled "12 hours" in england would be labelled "8.4 hours" in the US, even though the two objects were exactly the same.

Between this effect and the market gaps in the range of available hybrids, I think we've accounted for most of it. I would like to see a "control" study that shows what percentage of people buy a car in the exact same class the next time as well. The compact you had in college may be replaced by a sedan that may be replaced by a minivan. That's fairly normal.

But there aren't ANY hybrid minivans, and there isn't a very wide selection of hybrid sedans.

Then you have weirdness like the small-SUV market, where Ford's Escape Hybrid was the most efficient option until they discontinued it, but new gas engines have suddenly made other options the most efficient in that segment. If I were to replace my now-discontinued Escape (which was the most efficient at the time) today, it would be with something like the 2013 Subaru Crosstour XV, which is more efficient but not a hybrid. It's not because I dislike hybrids. It's because I don't actually care how it works, I'm shopping for fuel efficiency.

The government needs to come down on these manufacturers harder with respect to their fakey-fake estimated EPA numbers.

The government makes those numbers. They're generated by the EPA itself testing the cars. On top of that, those numbers are the only numbers the manufacturer is allowed to display or advertise in the US.

You could fairly complain that the EPA testing could be more accurate or more representative-- but this is not something manufacturers are doing.

It was a market failing. I ended up in a Ford Escape Hybrid despite actually wanting something smaller. A Subaru-type design with ground clearance and AWD would have been perfect, but two years ago, Subaru's engines got horrible fuel economy. Best they had was in the low 20s. So I ended up with a larger vehicle than I wanted, because it was more efficient at 32mpg. That's weird, but that's what happens when the available product range has gaps.

Subaru has since fixed their crap, and they have a little hatchbacky offroadable thing that gets 33mpg coming out shortly. And Ford has discontinued the hybrid Escape. If I shopped again today with the same needs, it wouldn't be a hybrid. In two more years, it could be again. Hybrids aren't in every market niche.

This is a huge factor. There's large market holes that hybrids haven't filled yet, and some that were filled but aren't anymore. If you want a chunky hatchback, you're covered. You have a few choices of small sedan, one large SUV, and one medium-sized three-row SUV. There *was* a small SUV (the Ford Escape), but the hybrid version has been discontinued.

So, if you want a minivan, a small SUV, a wagon, a crossover, or any number of other options-- there isn't a hybrid for you.

I got the 32mpg Escape in 2010 because it was the most efficient option that did what I wanted, but if I were to shop with the same requirements today, I'd end up with a Subaru Crosstour XV at 33mpg... which isn't a hybrid.

Hybrid buyers aren't loyal to hybrids-- they're loyal to fuel economy.

I've got a 2010 Ford Escape Hybrid, and I really like it-- but I bought it because it was the most economical vehicle that did what I wanted at the time. I wanted something that had enough ground clearance to do light offroad driving, and was practical enough to use as a daily driver. You'd think a little Subaru would have been perfect, but in 2010, their most efficient car had gas mileage in the low 20s. So I ended up with the Escape, which was larger and less aerodynamic than I'd prefer, but which fit my requirements.

Things change, though. If I went shopping this year, Ford has discontinued the Escape Hybrid and Subaru has finally brought their engine designs into this decade... and the non-hybrid Crosstour XV will get 33mpg, doing slightly better than my Escape Hybrid.

I can't be the only one in a position like this-- until there's a hybrid version of every car, some people will go car shopping and find the most economical car that meets their needs is actually not a hybrid. Even some people who already had a hybrid they liked, like me. I love my hybrid, but if it up and died, its replacement would not be a hybrid, at least for the foreseeable future-- because the most efficient replacements on the market right now just aren't hybrids. That, too, will probably change in another few years when somebody else introduces a small AWD vehicle with ground clearance and a hybrid drivetrain.

So it's not a question of disliking hybrids, it's that hybrid buyers' primary loyalty isn't to a particular technology... it's to efficiency.

That's called a Serial Hybrid, but the Volt isn't that, either. It has a system of clutches that let the engine drive the wheels directly in an arrangement very similar to a Prius-style planetary-gear drivetrain. There was a surprising amount of outrage over this-- it's an optimization that makes the car more efficient in some driving modes, but "purists" who expected a straight-up serial hybrid were for some reason offended.