Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com - View Single Post - What's better on hills: DWL or Pulse up, Glide down?

monroe74 · 05-12-2008, 12:04 AM

Thanks, these are very helpful comments, and they make sense to me.

What still bugs me is this statement: "... you will back off the accelerator and lose speed ... It's far more efficient than pressing the accelerator more and more to maintain speed on the way up a hill and then releasing it down the other side."

(From here, item #55: http://www.ecomodder.com/forum/EM-hy...ecodriving.php)

I think the problem with that statement is it encourages people to use a small throttle opening, in a situation when a large throttle opening might be more efficient.

I realize people have pointed out some important exceptions, where the larger throttle, and higher speed, isn't a good idea. Like if you end up having to stop prematurely, after you crest the hill. Or if you're building up so much speed (e.g., over 50 mph) that aero resistance starts to be a real problem. Or maybe there's so much speed that it's unsafe or illegal.

But if conditions like that are not present, then I think #55 is perhaps a little misleading. Unless there's some other aspect of this that I'm not grasping.

05-12-2008, 12:04 AM	#8 (permalink)
monroe74 EcoModding Lurker Join Date: May 2008 Location: USA Posts: 59 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Thanks, these are very helpful comments, and they make sense to me. What still bugs me is this statement: "... you will back off the accelerator and lose speed ... It's far more efficient than pressing the accelerator more and more to maintain speed on the way up a hill and then releasing it down the other side." (From here, item #55: http://www.ecomodder.com/forum/EM-hy...ecodriving.php) I think the problem with that statement is it encourages people to use a small throttle opening, in a situation when a large throttle opening might be more efficient. I realize people have pointed out some important exceptions, where the larger throttle, and higher speed, isn't a good idea. Like if you end up having to stop prematurely, after you crest the hill. Or if you're building up so much speed (e.g., over 50 mph) that aero resistance starts to be a real problem. Or maybe there's so much speed that it's unsafe or illegal. But if conditions like that are not present, then I think #55 is perhaps a little misleading. Unless there's some other aspect of this that I'm not grasping.