[LINK] 'Smart' cars as fuel-efficient as hybrids

Tom Worthington Tom.Worthington at tomw.net.au
Mon May 14 10:39:17 AEST 2007


At 04:31 PM 13/05/2007, Richard Chirgwin wrote:
>David Boxall wrote:
>><http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1918364.htm>
>>
>>... 'intelligent' cars are conventional vehicles fitted with 
>>sensors and receivers called telematics, which work in a network, 
>>swapping information about the traffic ahead....
>And therefore, I suppose, since a hybrid uses petrol as well, it 
>could be made more efficient by the same techniques...

No. Most of the fuel saving in a hybrid car is from the electric 
system smoothing out the effects of stop-go city driving. If the 
traffic flows smoothly, the hybrid car is less efficient than a 
conventional one of comparable size (because the hybrid has a heavy 
battery to carry around).

Much of the hybrid car efficiency comes from turning off the engine 
when stopped in traffic. Other efficiency comes from driving slowly 
under electric power and from regenerative brakes. If the car does 
not stop as often and does not have to speed up and slow down, then 
there is little for the electric motor to do.

Some Australian roads already use electronic speed signs to adjust 
the speed of the traffic to suit conditions. This achieves much of 
the advantage of the "intelligent" car, without the need to install 
any electronics.

If networked GPS systems become common, then in-dash speed signs 
could be useful 
<http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2006/11/in-dash-car-navigation-systems.html>.



Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington at tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd            ABN: 17 088 714 309
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617                http://www.tomw.net.au/
Visiting Fellow, ANU      Blog: http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/atom.xml  




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