[LINK] Fuel consumption

[Pilcher, Fred]

> I was assuming you would keep in an appropriate gear to optimise the
> power output of the engine. Most people opt for too low a gear when
> increasing speed to maximise their acceleration rather than minimising
> their power usage.

A good thing it's Friday.

I have a mate in the UK who has a Honda Insight. It's a sporty (looking) little two-seater with a stack of batteries (NiCads?), that, unlike the Prius which drives the wheels electrically and uses the motor to charge the batteries, drives the wheels through a normal drive train and uses batteries to provide extra boost as needed. It stops the engine whenever the car stops and starts it instantly the accelerator or clutch is depressed and uses regenerative braking to charge the batteries. It claims, and achieves, 85mpg.

My mate was almost obsessive about maximising its mileage. He'd slam it through the gears at the lowest possible revs - you could feel every cylinder firing and straining to keep the car moving while the battery boost indicator shot up to maximum. It was painful to ride with him. I was reluctant to suggest that, if he let the engine rev more, he'd be using its torque more effectively and almost certainly achieve even better mileage while treating the little engine much more kindly. It was a tribute to Honda's engineering the that he wasn't constantly breaking con rods or burning holes in the pistons.

Fred
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