Japanese Mileage Maniacs 277
WY writes "Bloomberg reports on the quirky world of Japanese hybrid car hackers: 'Toyota Motor Corp. says its Prius gasoline-electric hybrid car gets about 55 miles to the gallon, making it one of the most fuel-efficient cars on the road. That's not good enough for Takashi Toya.' He managed to reach as high as 115 MPG. He is one of about 100 nenpimania, Japanese for mileage maniacs."
Mileage? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Mileage? (Score:5, Interesting)
Well if you want to get that technical, yes we use kilometers here. But even in English speaking countries, mileage is commonly used because "kilometrage" would just sound silly. Mileage or simply "fuel efficiency" is acceptable.
But just for the pedantic, the japanese characters for "nenpi" (I'd type them here but Slashdot doesn't seem to accept Japanese characters) are literally translated as the character for "burn" (On reading of 'nen') and the character for "cost" or "consumption" (On reading of 'hi' or in this case, 'pi'). Mileage is just the (American) English equivalent. Fuel consumption would probably be more widely accepted.
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We use kilometrage here
Re:Mileage? (Score:4, Interesting)
Well of course it does. Kilometers and liters are used here in Japan, hence it would be measured in kilometers per liter. Or sometimes liters per 100km (xL/100km). But the characters used for nenpi do not have reference to kilometers or miles.
Take for example the phrase "Top speed". The phrase doesn't refer to kph or mph or meters per second or anything, but depending on its context, you can judge which is appropriate. If you're in the US, it'd be more appropriate to use mph, if you're in Japan, it'd be more appropriate to use kph. If you're talking about a satellite in orbit, maybe meters per second might be more appropriate.
The phrase "nenpi" is almost only purely used in reference to fuel consumption of cars. However I have seen it used in reference to physical fitness, so I think any jisho (dictionary) saying nenpi is purely measured in kilometers per liter is being too narrow in its definition.
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Good enough for me (Score:5, Funny)
Cutting down on fuel bills AND bragging rights? Where do I sign!?
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As a 20 year old jobless college student coasting by on earned savings (and what little remains of my previous job) I don't exactly enjoy spending money on gas. Of course, I have a Chevy Cavalier with 32 mpg, and gas prices aren't nearly as high as Europe or Japan, but still... Wouldn't it be nice if all cars could get that mileage? (It's not like Oil Executives are starving to death)
Re:Good enough for me (Score:5, Funny)
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How "real" is their driving? (Score:4, Insightful)
Sure, I'm all for more fuel efficient cars and less fossil fuel burning, but there is a tradeoff.
Re:How "real" is their driving? (Score:5, Informative)
Bert
Re:How "real" is their driving? (Score:4, Interesting)
Unfortunately at least in this country (UK) you are likely to cause a case of road rage. All driving schools teach a completely different driving style. Namely, you are taught to go close to the roundabout without deccelerating and switch 4-to-2nd or 5-to-3rd for the big ones to kill your speed right away with the engine while helping yourself with the breaks. Same for traffic lights, stopping, etc. Even if it is absolutely clear that a traffic light will go green any minute, the average british driver will go all the way to it, break, stop and wait. As a result if you deccelerate early the one bihind you may end up smashing into you or uses breaks to deccelerate early and gets pissed off.
Most of the population drives like that. I used to drive the way you describe (and I still do if I am more or less alone on the road) and I had idiots behind me flashing lights at me all the time.
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Downshifting more than one gear tends to upset a car's balance and that's generally something you don't want to do if you want to maintain control of your vehicle.
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Check out this pic [coloradoguy.com] -- the road's obvious in the left-hand side, but you can also see a fragment in the right, and another in the upper right. Tho
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The first rule of fuel efficiency is: BREAKING IS FOR LOSERS.
This was also the first rule in kindergarten.
Re:How "real" is their driving? (Score:5, Informative)
Absolutely, and that's still important in vehicles with regenerative braking.
The Prius has a bar graph of your MPG per five minute interval. It overlays cute little green car icons to show how much energy you recaptured through braking during that interval as well. But you shouldn't think of those car icons as part of your score. They're more like the bonus you get when the ball drains out of the pinball machine.
Consider this: when you step on the brakes in a Prius, you convert kinetic energy to electrical energy, which is then stored in a battery, which you then use to regain kinetic energy.
But oddly enough, the most efficient way to store kinetic energy is as....kinetic energy. Regenerative braking is a consolation prize for when you had to step on the brakes. Better not to do that in the first place, if you can manage it while being safe and courteous.
Re:How "real" is their driving? (Score:4, Insightful)
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Heck, all the land speed records are set in America for a reason, completely flat and no resistance.
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Surprisingly, you want to accelerate as quickly as possible up to your desired speed, then engage the cruise control. I use the cruise control even for city driving, and only use the brakes the last bit to a stop line, otherwise it's just releasing the throttle. And unless I'm in a real hurry, I usually stick a bit below the spee
terrorism ? (Score:2)
Off topic on g-gp post (Score:2)
Re:Pulse and Glide Says it All, Average Speed 26 M (Score:2, Insightful)
If you think US roads are poorly designed, please come to Japan and spend some time driving. These people in the article must spend all their time on farm roads during off hours. Japanese roads are by for the worst anywhere for cars. (and I have driven on four continents.) Nothing but stoplights, traffic and people. The stoplights are never synchronized and going anywhere in Japan by car painful by US standards. Why do you think they developed the hybrids in the fi
Re:Pulse and Glide Says it All, Average Speed 26 M (Score:2)
well.. that xprize went fast! (Score:5, Interesting)
damn he's lucky.. if he knows about it and turns it in that is.
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"The guidelines specify that the car must be appealing to buyers and easy to mass produce -- warning that concept cars or "science projects" won't qualify.
The vehicles will compete in real-world driving tests, in two categories -- mainstream (four or more passengers and four wheels) and alternative (two or more passengers and no requirement on the number of wheels)."
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If that style of driving can get me to work and back, which I think it can, then its practical enough for me. I'm sorry the riding style is not like an amusement park ride.
driving technique (Score:2)
I also wonder whether the driving techniques they use are applicable in traffic of any density. It sounds like they speed up and slow down a lot, which may be fine on the open road but not as traffic becomes denser. A minor point is that in most of the United States, at least, it is illegal to drive barefoot.
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Similarly, if they have to pay close attention to extra gauges, they probably can't drive safely in heavy traffic or bad road conditions. Maybe what they are doing can be automated, but if not, it may not be practical for general driving conditions.
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What? Serious?
So, what counts as "not barefoot"? Does it have to be shoes or is socks sufficient? What material is allowed for the socks - could you just use nylon hose to count as "not barefoot" or does the foot cover have to be opaque? Who defines what counts as "shoes"? or "soles"? How much of the foot does the "shoe" have to cover? If you're driving an automatic, do you still need shoes on both feet? Where do y
Re:driving technique (Score:4, Informative)
This is what I have always been told, but I just googled it to check, and it looks like [tafkac.org] it is an urban myth in terms of black-letter law. The police often consider it dangerous and may ticket you for reckless or negligent driving, which you could then dispute in court. In some states it IS illegal to ride a motorcycle barefoot. Driving barefoot is illegal in some other places, such as Hong Kong.
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It certainly is retarded -- but then you always see kids riding their crotch-rockets every summer with shorts, flipflops, and a flapping tank top. Go out someday and rub the pavement with your bare hand. Then imagine sliding along at 50 mph with nothing separating limb from road. Dumb as it is however, people should be allowed to foolishly take themselves out of the gene pool.
Yeah, but (Score:2)
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I call bullshit.
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Also, if you hit someone head-on and they fly into YOUR windshield, they can break it with more force than otherwise, sending glass shards into your face.
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I think it is more of a liabilty waiver,
IE if I lose control of my car and am at fault for a accident that would have involved no injuries, but your face now required 70 hours of surgery because you wouldn't wear your belt. You can now say they are at say 30% fault for not being safe in their car.
I wish they would do the similar for high dollar cars, IE if you drive a car with a million dollar emerald on your rear bumper I touch
unbarefooted = rubbersoled (Score:2)
So yes, that technically rules out driving barefooted, along with the fancy leather-soled Italian shoes. Anyway, most car pedals aren't meant to be used without stiff soles, so they're just too
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I am prepared to bet that my toes have better grip than any pair of rubber soled shoes.
This is the best laugh I have had since a friend called me to say he had been at my place and knocked on the door but I didn't answer, and by the way, he wanted to call the cops because it is illegal to leave your keys in the ignition when your car is parked in your own drive way.
He is the kind of person who wo
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Although not quite the same pattern, in heavy traffic, you have no choice but to speed up and slow down a lot. Thus the term "stop-and-go traffic".
A minor point is that in most of the United States, at least, it is illegal to drive barefoot.
Absolutely false [tafkac.org]. Not a single US state actually has laws against driving barefoot, except Alabama and only for Motorcyclists.
Another
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Alabama:
Barefoot Driving: Operation of a motor vehicle by a driver with bare feet is permitted. Exception: motorcycle rider.
Ohio:
Barefoot Driving: Operation of a motor vehicle by a driver with bare feet is permitted but not recommended.
California:
Barefoot Driving: Operation of a motor vehicle by a driver with bare feet is not prohibited.
Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware,Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, K
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That's only true if you wear shoes that are easy to slip on and off, which is fine if you're out for a long drive, but not very practical in circumstances where you need to wear other shoes or boots for work or whatever.
Called Hypermiling in America (Score:5, Informative)
Why only 55? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why only 55? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why only 55? (Score:4, Interesting)
I really wish around here in BC they would change the licence/insurance laws. I used to drive a truck (until the head gasket went and leaked all the coolant into the oil pan) and I now drive a tercel. However, I would like to insure both under a single licence. Why? Because there are times when I could use a truck, and I used to use my truck to fill a need about 1 time every week. The rest of the time I could have got by with a much more fuel efficent car. However, licencing 2 vehicles offsets the value in having more than one. If I could have swapped plates from truck to car, I could have driven the truck 1 day a week, and the car the other 6. But this is not legal here. Hell, if I could do that I would rather have a truck and a smart fortwo car. Because on my own the fortwo would work great, and for those times where I need more space, I can drive the truck.
Changing insurance methods could save gas in situations like these.
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In my case for example I drive a 911, which is neither remotely fuel efficient nor inexpensive to maintain -- but it has a lot of the same disadvantages as a smart car so bear with me. It's lousy for transporting even moderately sized items, you can't haul a boat, or fill it with relatives, or bricks, etc... While I knew I'd love the car I thought I'd *really* miss having a larger vehicle. Turned out its not the big deal I thought it was.
Sure I *could* own a 2nd vehicle, but it tu
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So which wins out, having a 911 babe magnet, or being a babe repelling
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I really wish around here in BC they would change the licence/insurance laws. I used to drive a truck (until the head gasket went and leaked all the coolant into the oil pan) and I now drive a tercel. However, I would like to insure both under a single licence. Why? Because there are times when I could use a truck, and I used to use my truck to fill a need about 1 time every week. The rest of the time I could have got by with a much more fuel efficent car.
I don't know where you live, but if you are in Vancouver, you might want to try the Co-operative Auto Network [cooperativeauto.net]. It's a co-op where you pay a one-time $500 membership fee, and per hour fees (as low as $2/hr) to sign out various vehicles for short periods of time.
It's ideal for folks like you where you have a primary vehicle, but occasionally need a secondary. The co-op fleet has trucks and vans. My wife signed up, and it's better than purchasing (and insuring) a second car. Plus, she gets to satisf
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Sulphur / Sulfur (Score:2)
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I did a quick google for skoda turbo diesel and mpg, and didn't see any sites that claimed above ~50mpg.
just curious.
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The Skoda Fabia 1.4tdi, for instance, has a quoted 61.4mpg figure for the combined cycle but if you dig through Skoda's literature, they claim 70mpg in the 'cruise' and a quick google around owners forums turns up some drivers seeing close to 80mpg in the cruise.
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All the Fabias have plenty of head/leg room (in the front at least).
The vRS however has the looks and performance. It's still a turbodiesel but can keep up with an Elise 111R from 20-40mph and outrun a BMW 330i from 50-70mph. It also gets the nice sports trimmings, 6 speed gearbox etc.
The vRS still returns 50mpg. There is a definite trend in the EU to build flagship models around turbodiesel engines now. For example SEAT offers their flagship Leon CUPRA with a turbodiesel optio
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Also aren't Imperial gallons larger than American gallons? Or do they use the same gallon when talking about fuel?
Re:Why only 55? (Score:5, Funny)
You must be new here. Our Hummers weigh in at much more than a measly two tons. Besides, American women with 1 or more children are forbidden to be seen in anything with four doors unless it's an SUV. (It's federal law; kind of like that big cloth bag they have to wear in the mideast). American males with premature balding, premature greying, limpdickosis and/or shortpeckeritis are also required to own at least one SUV and a Harley Davidson. The SUV must have at least 8 cylinders and you get a tax subsidy from Exxon if you upgrade to Hemi-anything. On weekends, most people take their Hummers out and rear-end anything that gets more than 25 mpg.
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Diesel fuel isn't remotely comparable to gasoline.
You might as well say your fission powered car gets 10,000,000 MPG (eg. on Uranium), or your electric car gets infinite MPG.
First: smaller cars are around 1 ton (half that).
Second: Is there some physical law I don't know about, that makes it possible to be safe in an 80MPH collision, without
aerodynamics and rolling friction, not engine tech (Score:5, Interesting)
If a regular engine can get 50+ MPG it shouldn't be hard for a Hybrid to get 70 or 80+, if not 100+.
Highway mileage has nothing to do with hybrid vs. non-hybrid. You're still getting energy from the same fuel, in the same way. Even with a hybrid's electric motor helping with acceleration for passing, guess where energy to charge the battery back up again comes from? Ding, the gasoline motor (some regenerative braking, but most of the hybrids don't wait that long before they start charging the pack.)
Take a look at the Insight. It gets noticeably more mileage than any of its hybrid siblings- I think it's in the high 60's or low 70's. Why? It's super-streamlined, complete with wheel skirts over the rear wheels. Now, notice that the shape is quite reminiscent of the Honda CRX, a car that got 50MPG, in the early 80's?
If you completely switched off the hybrid system in a Prius or Honda Civic or (snicker) that hybrid Lexus SUV, guess what- highway gas mileage wouldn't change. The overwhelming factors for highway mileage are aerodynamics and rolling friction (tires, bearings, drivetrain components.) Lowering weight helps too; less energy required to accelerate and go up hills- and hybrids have that working against them because the battery packs, extra electronics+wiring, and traction motor all add weight.
Diesels like the VW TDIs get 45-50MPG on the highway, and they do it with the same aerodynamics as standard VW's AND the extra weight of the heavier diesel engine, because diesels are more efficient. Put a diesel engine in a Insight, and you'd probably get a similar boost in mileage as between an gasoline Jetta and a TDI Jetta. Heck, you might crack 100mpg without breaking a sweat.
Re:aerodynamics and rolling friction, not engine t (Score:2, Interesting)
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Oddly enough; I blame CAFE standards for driving people to SUVs. By requiring such high milage requirements, the car companies economized in ways that drove many people away from them. Simple things like sitting too low for somebody with limited mobility* to comfortably enter/exit them. The increase in availab
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Yes they do. They're designed differently, but then, they'd have to be. You have less room to crumple, but then, you also have more room for shoving the engine underneath the passangers.
CAFE standards have been pretty constant since the late 1980s. CAFE did not have high mileage requirements. Meeting these minimal standards is not difficult - other countries have far better average fuel consumption.
They still disallow the types of vehicles many consumers want.
M
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Do note that this is entirely impossible. The Prius transmission is the hybrid system. It neither resembles nor behaves like a conventional transmission - it is far more mechanically simple and has far more electronic control.
Note that the Prius hybrid system also replaces the starter and the alternator as well, and (from the 2004 model onwards) also runs the air conditioning.
Diesel (Score:2)
What many people forget is that Diesel has a higher energy density, so a Diesel per se engine should have a better mileage.
k2r
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But a lot of people want a heaver car for real or perceived safety reasons, good acceleration, and a price-tag they can brag about. Hybrids deliver on all counts.
Essentially, they electric part isn't good enough to run the car, but it is good enough to provide a performance boost to an otherwise underpowered engine. In some cases, that
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Models with traditional engines from Toyota include the Aygo - 68.9 mpg and the Yaris - 62.8 mpg, so other than the fact that some road tolls and parking permit charges are cheaper on the Prius, there isn't really much point in getting it.
These figures are in British gallons. There's about 1.2 US Gallons in a British Gallon, so the 65.7 mpg is comparable to your 55 mpg.
not that simple (Score:2)
1) The car was a total death trap, weighing just over 1800 lbs, it offered VERY little crash protection and poor traction in adverse weather. (even rain)
2) The way they achieved high mileage was to make it extremely polluting. By running the gas very lean, you don't get complete combustion, and emissions of NO2 and others were dangerously high.
To call it a practical car, you might not need 2 tons of steel
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Re:Why only 55? (Score:5, Informative)
It's also a two-door compact car. The Prius is considerably larger - perhaps you should be comparing the VW Polo to the Honda Insight, which gets 65-70mpg.
Your Citroën AX is a 650kg 2-door supermini that would be a deathtrap in a collision with anything of any size. Why the hell you would compare it to a 1400kg Prius (which is a 4-door "large family car") is completely beyond me.
You said two things there - 50bhp and diesel. Diesel contains 15% more energy per gallon than gasoline, making any "MPG" comparisons entirely pointless from a carbon-emission standpoint.
Moreover, you also said 50bhp. That's redicolously underpowerd, even for your 650kg Citroën. Forget about having an automatic transmission on a vehicle like that, and you'd better be easy on the clutch or you're going to be in stall city.
Ah, more hybrid misnomers. If you don't understand the battery technologies involved (Ni-Mh in current models), don't comment. Ni-Mh is not "environmentally-disasterous" - in fact, the Ni in the battery is so valuable that Toyota pays a $500 per pack bounty for recycling.
As for the "overcomplicated drive train", the Prius transmission has 12 moving parts, not one of which is a friction or wear component. In the past 5 years, I have never read a single account of a Prius transmission failing mechanically. The same cannot be said for manual or automatic transmissions, which fail all the time because they incorporate wear components (clutches/clutchpacks, syncromeshes, etc) and (in the case of an automatic transmission), high-pressure hydraulics.
This is the typical European Slashdot hybrid idiot post. I've seen it far, far too many times. The post points out how a much smaller, much less powerful diesel-powered vehicle can achieive results similar to a hybrid. Then they top it off with some nice myths about how hybrids are complicated (they aren't - Toyota's Prius is in fact mechanically simpler and far more reliable than a conventional vehicle), bad for the environment (somehow, 80% fewer smog-forming emissions and excellent fuel economy are "bad" because you have to recycle a battery 15 years down the road), or dangerous.
Here's a hint: don't compare a 3000lb 4-door large family vehicle (mid-size in the US) to a 2-door diesel subcompact. It makes you look stupid.
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Are you sure about that? After all, it does still have a gasoline engine in addition to all the electric parts.
I'll fully admit that a full EV is far simpler mechanically than a gasoline vehicle, but hybrids; not so much.
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The drivetrain in the Prius is quite simple. See http://www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/purl/890029-W I fqPO/890029.PDF [osti.gov]. The "transmission" has only 6 gears in it (not speeds, gears), no mechanical torque converter. A diagram of it is on page 18 of the PDF file. The other gears are for connecting to the differential. Electronically it is complex, but not mechanically. The engine is a conventional 1.5L 4 cylinder engine, but run with the Atkinson cycle [wikipedia.org] instead of the usual Otto cycle.
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Just to nitpick: The Polo has rear seats, the Honda doesn't. And the Bluemotion Polo gets 60 MPG.
I think his point was that Hybrid cars aren't the wondrous blessing in fuel efficiency they're often made out to be. His examples weren't particularly good.
An example for a highly efficient diesel would be the Audi A2 3L, which supposedly gets around 80 MPG, and is more comparable to the Prius (They don't make them any more because it didn't sell we
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I can't actually drive a Prius. I'm 6'0" and 14 stone (a little below 200lb), and physically don't fit in the driver's seat. It doesn't go back far enough for my legs, so my knees hit the steering wheel. My right shoulder is bumping against the door pillar and my left shoulder is invading my passenger's space. It's just too damn small - more cramped inside than my AX (which is "cosy" to say the least with
Mileage mania? (Score:3, Insightful)
My favorite motorcar extremists lately are the guys strapping together thousands of dollars worth of batteries to make ultra-high performance vehicles that still get 40 mpg. Sure, they have to go light and limited to 100 miles range per charge, but they end up with a true racecar that makes no sound except the burning of the wheels. That's just damn cool.
Mileage itself is a bit of a red herring though - there's always going to be a need for vehicles with 'horrid' milage, and 'wasting' that fuel to move earth, or just push a lot of metal - it really isn't an inherent problem to 'waste' fuel on big cars. The only real concern is the effect using that fuel in a fuel cycle. If going through that cycle returns the earth to a carbon-rich atmosphere, that's not a good thing. If the cycle doesn't involve such troublesome consequences though, then as long as the fuel is worth it's other negative effects (like on your wallet), then I don't see how it's a problem.
We just need better fuels and energy source paths. The market's having a hard time finding a good set of somethings for now - but the dynamics look to be changing, thanks in large part to a lot of nations making some rather interesting long-term investments in fuel research. If you get the right fuel, then I'd much rather have a fuel-inneficient car that theoretically retails for $12,000 after mass manufacture, than a maximized fuel efficient car that retails for $50,000. We need fuels we can waste, so we can consider fuel efficiency completely in terms of direct cost rather than indirect environmental impact as a society.
I look forward to being able to waste a lot of new kinds of fuel in the future. Here's hoping they come up with one that smells like rich coffee ice cream!
Ryan Fenton
The real question is... (Score:2)
Speaking of Prius: All-Electric Versions... (Score:2)
Anybody know how likely this is to be true? (Is there such a version in any other market?)
Re:Speaking of Prius: All-Electric Versions... (Score:5, Informative)
Toyota have announced they want to build a PHEV, but they haven't said when or shown any more information about it. General Motors have shown the Chevy Volt "concept car" which is a PHEV, and they want to put it into production by about 2010-2012 depending on how batteries develop.
The winners in fuel efficiency are always the pure battery-electric vehicles like the Tesla Roadster; it's rated 135 MPG equivalent efficiency on the EPA highway cycle, no funky "hypermiling" techniques required. First deliveries to customers scheduled for late this year.
it's not unique to the Japanese (Score:2, Informative)
http://hybridcars.about.com/od/news/a/100mpgrecord
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05220/550484.stm [post-gazette.com]
One of them achieves 59 (US) mpg in a non-hybrid 2005 Honda Accord by adopting crazy hypermiling techniques. See http://hybridfest.com/MotherJones.htm [hybridfest.com].
US fuel efficiency figures seem incredibly poor? (Score:2)
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Re:US fuel efficiency figures seem incredibly poor (Score:5, Informative)
And yes gasoline is so cheap for the most part that we can and do by bigger cars that do poor mpg. They sell gas at 25-30p a liter and 9p of that is road tax, so we don't have the extra payments like you do. At that price it just doesn't make much of a dent in the pocket book even when you have to commute more than 30 miles each direction everyday. The other thing we have is wide roads, lot's of parking, and big garages (you can actually get a full sized SUV into most and have the people on both sides of the vehicle and be able to get out fairly easy). The newer houses typically have room for 3 vehicles and easily fit 2 SUVs and a car. (Just to give you an idea of what I'm talking about, a Landrover Defender 110 station wagon is what I mean by an SUV.) Those things seems to have a bigger damper on large vehicle sales here in the UK than the price of gas. I cannot get my "tiny", a behemoth by British standards, regular cab Toyota Tacoma (like a hi-lux but bigger) through the door of my garage, and have to park it in the street. Of course as you know most houses in town don't even have garages. People in the states regularly drive pick-up trucks large enough to haul around the typical British car in the back and rarely ever have a problem finding an easy spot to park in.
Hope that puts things in perspective for you. Of course my dreams of buying a new Tacoma or an FJ cruiser, both larger than I have now, are on the back burner, so I have been eye-balling one of the new Mini's. (The sad thing is it won't fit in my garage either.) It get's a respectable 35-40 mpg better than the 20 I get with the Tacoma. Of course the one I want is the S model rather the eco model. :)
cheers for informative response (Score:2)
hehehe Toyota Hi-Lux considered "tiny" ! yup, there's definitely a different culture in the USA from the UK then, grin! As you know most people would laugh at you in the UK if you have one of those and don't have a serious reason to be using one (farmer, builder, park ranger) - though that said there's increasingly an SUV culture here alas. I agree that it's luckily been slowed down by there just not being the parking space/manoeuvring room in most towns for monster vehicles
Re:US fuel efficiency figures seem incredibly poor (Score:2, Insightful)
US auto manufacturers have convinced Americans that they need 4,000 pounds of steel wrapped around them to feel "safe" on the roads, and that 25mpg is the price you pay for "safety." What they can't bring themselves to say is that the best safety gear is between your ears, but that's just because most Americans don't seem to have come with that as standard equipment.
(I'm an American, so I can speak from experience.)
Known as "hypermiling" in English (Score:2)
Re:Ob. (Score:5, Funny)
I guess you were trying to make a Soviet Russia joke? "In Japan, car drives you", maybe? I guess it loses its funny when it's not relevant to the article, is translated into another language and written in romaji.
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I hate to see comments like this. If you have an electric car, there is no gas, and hence, no "gas mileage". This type of comment permeates the media and contributes to the drivel that totally mushes up the real facts of what goes on in engineering and science.
By 2010-2012, I predict the newer faster charging and less expensive batteries being tested now will give us an
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I was going to write that the grid can't handle any significant fraction of the population doing that, but actually, it can. Assume that a typical commuter does 20 miles/day in an electric car that otherwise (in weight and aerodynamics) is comparable to a 60 mpg car. Energy-wise you gain a factor 2 since the charging/discharging
Re: (Score:2)
Toya accelerates, or pulses, to 29 mph, then glides down to 25 mph before pulsing again. The car uses no fuel when gliding.
I doubt the other traffic on the road would like this method being used to get the high mileage.
One of these cars being driven conservatively to get good mileage while blending in with other traffic on the road would not get these high figures, but every little bit helps. Some of the methods used by the Japanese Mileage maniacs would also require taking one's eyes off t
Re: (Score:2)
I want to know how the hell you're abusing your poor car to get it down to 30mpg.
Re: (Score:2)
This is among the most horrible things I have ever seen.
This is barbarism embraced as heritage.
Racism? This isn't about race. It's about (fucked-up) culture. Much (most?) barbarism happens outside the lines permitted by cultures: There are Americans who torture animals too -- but they are jailed if caught; the culture does not permit it. The problem is when culture encourages this stuff. Bullfighting, in Spain and Mexico, is another example; there is no good excuse for it.
In each case, it is "et
Re: (Score:2)
but
a measure of differentiation is needed to distinguish between what is right and not, and to discourage, in fact disallow what is not right.
no "culture" or "ethnicity" should be allowed to do uncivil, barbarian things on ANY grounds, even if thats their 10.000 year old heritage, culture, or religion.
if we allow these shith
Re: (Score:2, Offtopic)
they are BLEEDING the dolphins to death because "their meat will taste better due to adrenaline rush".
coupled with the fact that dolphins have an iq roughly equal to goofy rednecks, or any other portion of the human society that is not "intellectually gifted", this becomes a genocide. justifying and approving that would plainly mean one approves/justifies cannibalism, and even with torture too, of the less intellectually gifted portions of human demographic. or, mentally retarded
Re: (Score:2)
I wouldn't mind eating some of the stupider members of society. Some of them are too scrawny to make it worth it, but most of them have been fattened on a steady diet of potato chips and bud light.
I imagine they'd taste quite a bit like pork.