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August 2008 Posts
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Jerry Asher is a great spokesman for PHEV and a wonderful guest. His vocal rhythms remind me a little of Fred Rogers of Mister Roger's Neighborhood.
Please won't you be my EV neighbor?
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40 mph. According to Johns data, you will get best mileage in a gas car between 35-45 at constant rate, thus the optimal would be 40 mph. However, if you are forced to do stop and go at the 40 mph rate, you would be better off at higher speeds. Expect good mileage in Yellowstone Park. However, if the government lowers the speed limit in Los Angeles, it might actually increase fuel consumption in the city since lower speeds on the highway may also lead to more congestion and stop and go. However, today at 70 mph seems you are doing stop and go anyways. BillB
Bill, I am a little skeptical that higher speeds reduces traffic congestion but perhaps this has been well studied by traffic engineers and I am just ignorant. There was a study done by traffic engineers a few years back that I thought was completely counter intuitive. Here is what they found. If there is a car accident blocking all the lanes in the highway, and then the accident clears suddenly (i.e. the police reopens the road), everyone speeds away together and get up to 65MPH. However, down the road a little bit something happens and waves of congestion start to occur and traffic slows and can become stop-and-go.
However, if after the accident, the cars are let out at a controlled rate, perhaps one car every 10 seconds or something, then no congestion occurs down the road and people actually get to their destination sooner.
While I believe the traffic engineers, this is completely counter intuitive. By slowly releasing the cars, people actually arrive at their destination sooner. So perhaps our gut instincts about improving traffic flow at not correct.
In California, I have seen something similar where there are traffic lights controlling the rate at which cars can get onto the highway. We don't have these here in the east. But perhaps that would do more to reduce congestion than any change to the speed limit.
Currently I am getting 43MPG on my 2004 Toyota Corolla by limiting my speed to 55 MPH. If I drive at 70 MPH this drops to about 38MPG. So driving slow and steady is better. My commute went from 30 minutes to 35 minutes. So the time plenalty was not too bad.
I see a lot of people on the highway trying to drive at 85 MPH. This is not an effecient speed. It is made worse by the fact that they end up having to apply their brakes at 85 MPH because the guy in front is only going 70 MPH. They get around him, speed up to 85 MPH again, and then apply the brakes again. I know this well, I used to be that guy. It doesn't make sense.
LaterJohn C. Briggs
Not to mention, John, the guy who drives 85mph is also at a financial disadvantage not only because of spending more on gas, but also the occasional $300+ speeding ticket.
