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to about 100 rpm before the rev limit steps-in in 2nd and 3rd... Hey wait a minute, maybe THAT's why my SID says 16.8 mpg? :)
Seriously though, if you're counting your time as free in your equation I'd bet that the best mileage will be achieved by keeping your accelaration slope as low and linear as possible for the entire curve, and for goodness sakes, stay off the boost.
The only way to know for sure would be to look at the amount total heat produced over time when traveling a designated distance. The heat produced by the engine idling to simply keep the car running would be the baseline. Any extra or additional heat would be an increase in inefficiency. So yeah, the car that took 30 seconds to cover the distance would be making heat 20 seconds longer than the car that took only 10 seconds. But did the extra effort of the extra acceleration and extra inefficiencies created create more than 2/3 times more heat in a shorter time? Probably not if you're considering reasonable speeds. Definitely if you're really getting on-it. The reason for that is that the frictional forces (Fµ, internal and external) that you're overcoming to accelerate are not linear at all. It's much more difficult and requires much more energy for a vehicle to accelerate from 130 mph to 150 mph than it would be for the same vehicle to accelerate from 30 mph to 50 mph.
The most effective solution would be to simply drive slower.
Or, some bright and future-oriented car manufacturer could combine all of the present technology available and just build a better car today. It would be a direct injection low sulphur diesel powering one set of wheels directly through a CVT. The other set of wheels would be powered by a small DC motor(s) with only short-term battery storage or possibly ultra capacitors. The CVT would allow the engine to always operate in it's most efficient rpm range, and the motors would provide standing launch assist (DC motors have 100% torque available from zero rpm) and regenerative braking. The whole thing could be totally transparent to the driver too...except it would probably be a strange sensation coming to a stop and not hearing the engine rpm's drop--because it would be assisting the charge for the upcoming launch. I bet 60+ mpg in a real-sized car wouldn't be out of the question. Heck, if one dosen't come out soon maybe I'll build one. :)
posted by 67.10.24...
, Sat, 24 Jul 2004 17:48:34
, Mon, 26 Jul 2004 08:47:42, Mon, 26 Jul 2004 08:39:33
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