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The energy to accelerate from zero to a speed (or decelerate to zero from a speed) is 1/2 X mass X speed^2. We start by ignoring friction, hills, driveline losses, engine inefficiency, and air drag. An ideal engine that accelerates a vehicle to a speed will burn an amount of fuel proportional to the kinetic energy.
Sample calculation:
Assume a 3000 lb vehicle.
At zero speed, the kinetic energy is zero.
At 10 MPH, the kinetic energy is 0.5 X 3000 lbs / 32.2 ft/sec^2 X (10 mi/hr X 5280 ft/mi / 3600 sec/hr)^2 = 10,020 ft-lbs kinetic energy.
At 20 MPH, the kinetic energy is 0.5 X 3000 / 32.2 X (20 X 5280 / 3600)^2 = 40,080 ft-lbs.
To accelerate from zero to 10 MPH takes 10,020 ft-lbs of energy.
To accelerate from zero to 20 MPH takes 40,080 ft-lbs of energy.
To accelerate from 10 MPH to 20 MPH takes 40,080 - 10,020 = 30,060 ft-lbs of energy.
Accelerating from 10 to 20 takes three times as much energy as accelerating from 0 to 10.
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06 Canyon: The vacuum gauge plus wheel covers helped increase summer 2015 mileage to 38.5 MPG, while summer 2016 mileage was 38.6 MPG without the wheel covers. Drove 33,021 miles 2016-2018 at 35.00 MPG.
22 Maverick: Summer 2022 burned 62.74 gallons in 3145.1 miles for 50.1 MPG. Winter 2023-2024 - 2416.7 miles, 58.66 gallons for 41 MPG.
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