Be sure to identify as “an avid driver… but sometimes I want to bike on Central, and it’s just not safe!” ;)

The way I read it is:

• if you never plug-in overnight, and the vehicle is big, and you drive aggressively, you get 34mpg (believable)
• but if you plug-in a small car every night, and you get 75% of your miles electric, and you drive like a grandma, then you get 223mpg (believable)

Sadly, it sounds like Porsche drivers may fall into the first category and Toyota drivers in the second. And there are enough Porches to skew the MPG of the whole PHEV class.

(it’s also possible that Porsche/VW/Audi just make PHEVs that score well on gov’t tests but poorly in the real world, though I’d lean towards the drivers. But the article title really implies that all PHEVs get shockingly bad mileage)

The article is horribly unclear: it seems to say that PHEVs are no good, but “the main reason for the higher-than-stated fuel usage was …that the PHEVs use two different modes, the electric engine and the combustion engine”. Well, so do non-plugin hybrids. I doubt they’re saying that plug-in hybrids are worse than non-plugin, but you might guess that from the title.

The article states that Porsche PHEVs used 7 liters per 100 miles (33.6mpg), but Kia/Toyota/Ford/Renault used “85% less” (1.05L/100k or 223mpg… maybe about right if driven 75% from plug-in energy).

Porsche mentioned “different usage patterns”. I can buy that a typical Prius owner is plugging-in every night, filling low-rolling-resistance tires to 54psi and driving like grandma, and a typical Porsche owner… isn’t. If you want apples-to-apples, then compare a gas Corolla vs a Prius vs a Plug-in Prius, where the cars are from the same city/suburb, and similar owners (e.g.: no ubers, no regional sales reps).

This “study” is evaluating real-world use of one class of vehicles, and not other vehicle types; then using the dismal ways some people drive to imply that this particular class of vehicles is the problem.

Most Americans understand the swing-out STOP signs on school buses: American trams with this type of stop could put one of those at the rear edge of the tram (on the curb side).

Reading the Houston city council discussion, it looks like they intend to curfew standup (platform) e-scooters. But the ordinance uses the term “micromobility device”, which is not really a legal definition of anything, and could include lots of things (even 50cc scooters). Hopefully the ordinance could be amended to clarify.

Since the vast majority of these will be app-rented e-scooters (ERYD/Lime), and those companies already operate under franchise agreements with the city, it seems like the easier path would be to put hours-of-operation limits on the rental companies.

Not that I think limiting e-scooters is a good idea, either.

Facebook’s app is in Play Store. Google knew FB was violating ToS for months.
Blocking sideloaded apps would have done nothing against that.

Unless the take is: Google wants to know who, exactly, they are permitting to do crimes on your phone. They don’t like the not-knowing part.