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The 11,516 MPG Car Zips Past Fuel Efficiency Records

How to save energy through both societal and individual actions.

Re: The 11,516 MPG Car Zips Past Fuel Efficiency Records

Unread postby Frank » Sat 26 Jun 2010, 08:15:57

Pops, I agree with your thoughts about car-pooling, telecommuting, etc. There's a whole slew of ideas like this that could/should be incentivized (?) by tax code.

Re efficiency, Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_car) states (as an example only) that the Tesla's plug-to-wheel energy use is 280 W·h/mile. A gallon of gasoline contains approximately 32kwh of energy, therefore the Tesla can go about 114 miles on an equivalent amount of energy found in one gallon of gasoline. The Lotus Elise is what the Tesla is based on. 2005 and earlier Elises have EPA gas mileage ratings of 23/27 mpg (city/hwy). I understand the later models get a little better (approaching 30.) Regardless, it's easy to see that the electric version is many times more efficient even though it's heavier. Well-to-wheel efficiencies aren't included in the gas mileage of the regular Elise but that's a small loss.

My own conversion (1994 Toyota Pickup lead-sled) uses about 333 kwh/mile (measured with a meter at the charger, supplied by solar panels on our roof BTW) so would go about 96 miles on an equivalent amount of energy found in one gallon of petrol. Stock mileage is low twenties so the ratio is about the same. The efficiency of new vehicles is getting better and better but ICE's will always be constrained by Carnot.

CalCars is pushing big time for mass conversions of existing vehicles to plug-in hybrids. I believe there are some startups out there looking at this but it'll still take a long time to switch a majority of our vehicles.

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Re: The 11,516 MPG Car Zips Past Fuel Efficiency Records

Unread postby Serial_Worrier » Mon 28 Jun 2010, 18:53:03

Pops wrote:The best thing that could happen, realistically, is oil between $80 and $100, but increasing a few % each year. Consumers then get the idea and move a little closer to work, force their neighborhoods to build sidewalks and a place to play soccer, the strip center to have a few actual stores instead of nail and tanning parlors and they wouldn't need to drive so much.


Not possible considering how most suburbs are current zoned and built. You'd have to destroy and rebuild them in the "new urbanist" philosophy of city layout. Imagine how much energy THAT would require.
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Re: The 11,516 MPG Car Zips Past Fuel Efficiency Records

Unread postby Keith_McClary » Tue 07 Jul 2015, 20:29:03

The 11,516 MPG ran on a hydrogen fuel cell.

This is a one cylinder ICE:
Students' 2098 mpg fuel-efficient car gets top score in mileage challenge
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Re: The 11,516 MPG Car Zips Past Fuel Efficiency Records

Unread postby Outcast_Searcher » Tue 07 Jul 2015, 20:49:16

Keith_McClary wrote:The 11,516 MPG ran on a hydrogen fuel cell.

This is a one cylinder ICE:
Students' 2098 mpg fuel-efficient car gets top score in mileage challenge

This kind of thing is really neat, but I think it would be FAR better if they had some sort of remotely real-world constraints.
OK. So it's a one cylinder ICE with one passenger (who clearly will have to lie flat). Fine, for a test track.

But from the article, they're clearly playing hypermiler games, etc. From the following quote, I presume they're starting with the car rolling at what they determine is an optimal speed. This on top of playing track optimizing mileage games.

Désaulniers also talked about what matters in preparing to compete. "The driver can make a very big difference in the result, but also a good race strategy is extremely important. We calculate at what speed the driver must start the engine to reduce energy loss."
They had a new driver and she had been advised by their former pilot who had already made the run. Désaulniers said they "wasted no time to know and understand the track and when to accelerate."


Far better, IMO, would be to use some real world constraints, like starting from a standing stop, having the track having a certain percentage of mild to moderate slope, some reasonable average speed requirement (say 25 mph or so), and a minimum driver weight of, say, 120 pounds. And the criteria should be summarized with the results.

Let's face it -- this might help lead to higher mileage cars at some point, but we're NOT going to be repealing the laws of physics here, and by FAR most people won't have a team to help them optimize extreme hypermiler games to grab a headline when they go to work or to run an errand.

(If they could put a weather-proof top on it for the driver to be able to sit up and SEE on a road, adhere to some meaningful real world constraints, and get, say, 300 to 500 mpg in a reliable one passenger ICE vehicle -- I'd be FAR more impressed than stunts like this to generate an eye-catching number).
Last edited by Outcast_Searcher on Tue 07 Jul 2015, 22:00:32, edited 1 time in total.
Given the track record of the perma-doomer blogs, I wouldn't bet a fast crash doomer's money on their predictions.
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Re: The 11,516 MPG Car Zips Past Fuel Efficiency Records

Unread postby Keith_McClary » Tue 07 Jul 2015, 21:39:50

I think they meant turning off the engine on downhills.
2015 SAE SUPERMILEAGE® RULES
...
ARTICLE 1: PERFORMANCE RUN
D1.1 The performance run will consist of each vehicle running six laps around a 2.6 km (1.6 mile) oval test
track.
D1.2 Minimum Speed
The vehicle must achieve a minimum six lap average speed of 24 kph (15 mph). This means that each
vehicle will be required to travel a total distance of 15.5 km (9.6 miles) in a maximum of 38.4 minutes.
D1.3 Maximum Speed
The vehicle must not exceed a single lap average speed of 40 kph (25 mph) (40.23km). This means a
vehicle must take longer than 3 minutes 50 seconds to complete each lap.
D1.4 Track Grade
Vehicles must be capable of ascending a 1 percent grade and descending a 7 percent grade.
D1.5 Slow Speed Penalty
D1.5.1 If the minimum average speed of 24 kph (15 mph) is not maintained, a penalty will be assessed by
subtracting from the km/liter (mpg) achieved.
D1.5.2 The penalty will be 4.25 km/liter (10 mpg) per second of time that the minimum average speed
requirement is not met. For instance, if 39 minutes was the elapsed time for six laps, the minimum
allowable time, without penalty (38 minutes 24 seconds) was exceeded by 36 seconds. The actual
mileage achieved would be reduced by 153.1 km/liter (360 mpg).
D1.6 Maximum Speed Penalty
D1.6.1 If the maximum lap average speed of 40 kph (25 mph) is exceeded, a penalty will be assessed by
subtracting from the km/liter (mpg) achieved.
1.6.2 The penalty will be 4.25 km/liter (10 mpg) per second of time that the maximum average lap speed
requirement is not met. For instance, if the third lap was completed in 3 minutes 12 seconds, the
minimum allowable time, without penalty (3 minutes 50 seconds) was exceeded by 38 seconds. The
actual mileage achieved would be reduced by 161.5 km/liter (380 mpg).
D1.7 Start
D1.7.1 Prior to the performance run, an official fuel tank (supplied by the competition organizers) will be filled,
weighed and installed on the vehicle. A member of the vehicle team will perform the installation of the
fuel bottle into the vehicle.
D1.7.2 The start of the performance run will begin with the vehicle being placed on the track starting line by
team members. The vehicle engine is then started, either by the driver or his pit crew. Timing for the
minimum speed requirement starts when the vehicle crosses the starting line.
D1.7.3 Vehicles cannot be push started.
http://students.sae.org/cds/supermileag ... _rules.pdf
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Re: The 11,516 MPG Car Zips Past Fuel Efficiency Records

Unread postby Outcast_Searcher » Tue 07 Jul 2015, 22:06:38

Keith_McClary wrote:I think they meant turning off the engine on downhills.
2015 SAE SUPERMILEAGE® RULES
...

Thanks for that. I scanned the article but didn't chase links to find the rules. The rule that says the car can't be push started clearly means you're right.

I'll stand by the overall message in my post. I think this is really neat and I'm glad to see this kind of effort taking place. OTOH, I still think a test and a set of constraints making the car conform to a, say, neighborhood car a single person could drive on side streets for errands would be a LOT more meaningful.
Given the track record of the perma-doomer blogs, I wouldn't bet a fast crash doomer's money on their predictions.
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