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The neat thing about CVTs is you can pick the RPM and load and stay at that RPM and load while you accelerate.
I found on my Insight, with a CVT, that you could very gradually accelerate with a very slight loss in fuel economy then semi glide and increase your mileage significantly, while still in gear with the engine running all the time. This technique allowed me to hit 80 MPG on occasion in my normal daily route of 40 miles and over 45 traffic lights, at a 38 MPH average speed, 20 miles in and 20 miles return.
Under high rates of acceleration the fuel consumption could be as much as 500% of the steady state consumption.
I plan of doing some testing with the Altima to see what the difference is in accelerating at different RPM rates, ranging from 1200 to 3000 RPM and possibly higher. It takes the MPG computer 30 seconds from a reset to give a measurement, so you can start from a reset and acclerate at different rates to see which rate gives you the best mileage from a stop to a certain speed as long as it does not take more than 30 seconds to get to that speed.
My guess would be the best rate of acceleration would be about 2200 RPM, but you never know.
I read a post elsewhere by Sentra where he stated he used 8 second pulses in his Pulse&Glide tactic. I am assuming he has spent considerable time testing for best effectiveness as far as overall economy. While his glide segment changed depending on his average speed his pulses were almost exclusively around 8 seconds if my memory serves me correctly.
regards
Mech
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