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Old 03-22-2016, 02:19 AM   #47 (permalink)
Isaac Zackary
Full sized hybrid.
 
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Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Colorado
Posts: 602

Suzy - '13 Toyota Avalon Hybrid XLE
90 day: 37.18 mpg (US)
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Funny. That happens even if I go 75mph. Actually one time I was coming back, from my mother-in-law's house, and it started snowing there in Texas. Anyhow, there were three lanes, but just about everyone was in the right two, and we were averaging about 20mph. It was so slick I could stick it in fifth gear and let out off the clutch and then floor it an my tires would spin. Even so, every once in a while someone in an SUV or pickup went flying past all the rest in the third lane. And every last one, I swear its the truth, was turned upside down off the road further ahead.

In most ICE cars the trade off from air drag to increased inefficiency is around 40 to 45mph, right where you can no longer stay in top gear any more. In my Golf I can shift into top gear at 30mph without lugging it. I wonder what kind of fuel mileage I could get driving my little 23:1 CR diesel car at 30mpg in top gear. I also wonder how such low speeds affect EVs. Do they become less efficient at low speeds so that there's a trade off area between air drag and motor inefficiency like in an ICE vehicle or do they continue to get better range the slower you go clear down to something like 5mph? The world may never know.
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