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Old 12-12-2007, 09:23 PM   #18 (permalink)
newtonsfirstlaw
EcoModding Apprentice
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 152

The Mighty Mira - '92 Daihatsu Mira
90 day: 61.32 mpg (US)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Peakster View Post
Driving a vehicle that goes from 15 MPG to one that gets 20 MPG is an immense fuel savings... much more than a car that goes from 35mpg to 40mpg. It would be lovely if a person made an SUV that got 50 MPG, but that ain't gonna happen.
Two points:
1. A hybrid (even mild hybrid) SUV, driven at low speed pulse and glide, should be able to achieve 50mpg. The catch is, it would have to be driven at 60kph or less. Aeromodded, slightly more, maybe 70kph.

2. mpg is a terrible measure of fuel economy, for that very reason. An inverse of that measure is a lot better (e.g. gallons per 100miles) or l/100km doesn't have that problem.

e.g.
15mpg = 15.68l/100km
20mpg = 11.76l/100km
difference = 3.92 l/100km

35mpg = 6.72l/100km
40mpg = 5.88l/100km
difference = 0.84l/100km

Edit: It does have the problem that 1l/100km difference is not as significant the lower you go. It does have the advantage of improvements being understated rather than overstated. e.g. my bicycle achieves infinity mpg ftw! lol lol kthxbye

I suppose what we need is a logarithmic measure, like decibels. But since you'd have to do log conversions to determine fuel use over a certain distance, it would be useless for that.
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Last edited by newtonsfirstlaw; 12-12-2007 at 09:31 PM..
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