Energy per distance, better than gallons/liters?

[Isaac Zachary]

Ok, so there seem to be a million ways to compare gasoline/petrol with diesel with electricity with CNG with LP, etc. But what makes the most sense?

In the USA we're all used to miles-per-gallon. In some other countries, they use liters per 100 kilometers, which in some ways is a more intuitive measurement. The nice thing about both is that they aren't price locked. A 40mpg car will cost less to fuel than a 30mpg car, regardless if the fuel is $1, $3 or $100 per gallon/liter. But that's assuming we're talking about the same fuel, or fuels with basically the same price per gallon. If one car get's 100mpg, but it uses electrcity, and another gets 40mpg, but it uses diesel fuel, the price of each of these fuels could make the miles-per-gallon type measurements kind of useless.

Cost-per-mile remedies a lot of the MPG measurement problems. If my car costs 10¢ per mile and someone else's costs 5¢ per mile, then the comparison makes perfect sense regardless if the fuel is diesel, gasoline or electricity. You can also add more to the total cost-per-mile than just fuel costs. What if a vehicle costs more to insure even though it costs less to fuel? It could still be more expensive and using cost-per-mile would help differentiate that. But what if we're comparing the same or similar vehicles from different places? Differences in fuel costs could make the two vehicles seem like they are completely different when they aren't.

Another measurement is efficiency. But efficiency of what? The motor/engine? That plus the drive train? But that would seem to imply that the only important factor is motor/engine efficiency and that things like rolling resistance, acceleration or air drag have no apparent effect. So instead do we calculate what would be the absolute least amount of energy needed to move an average person through air, at a "highway speed," over a paved road and then compare that to the total energy the vehicle in question uses?

So what if we just did energy per distance. Calories per meter, joules per foot, BTU's per mile? My vehicle uses x amount of energy to go a set distance. That would make comparing between diesel, gas and electric vehicles a bit easier to understand. Then just state the cost per unit of energy, and we know how much it both uses and costs to drive. It may be a bit difficult to calculate since we don't always know the energy content of our fuels, like winter vs. summer blends. But at least we could guestimate and that would be better, in my opinion, since it would help alleviate the occasional complaint of "well diesel has more energy, and summer fuel has more energy and electric fuel has more energy".

[M_a_t_t]

Isn't that essentially wh/mile?

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by M_a_t_t

Isn't that essentially wh/mile?

What hours?

Actually, yes, watt-hours per miles would be in the same idea.

[freebeard]

A watt-hour is 3.600 Joules. It is an SI unit (Système international (d'unités). The mile is an Imperial measure. The two systems share the second in common.

Convert 60 Miles per Hour to Kilometers per Hour
https://www.calculateme.com/speed/mi...rs-per-hour/60
What is 60 miles per hour in kilometers per hour? 60 mph to km/h conversion. From. To. swap units ↺ Amount. 60 Miles per Hour = 96.56064 Kilometers per Hour (exact result) Display result as. A mile per hour is a unit of speed commonly used in the United States. It is equal to exactly 1.609344 kilometers per hour. ...

60 mph is not quite 100 km/h; what we might call a 'first approximation' for purposes of comparison.

[redpoint5]

We should dump all imperial entanglements. Time to peel that band aid off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s-oNxdKf3g

[freebeard]

Abandon it for a system based on a misapprehension of the distance from the Equator to the North Pole? Let's not be hasty:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_M...ic_archaeology

In 1970, Michell founded the Anti-Metrification Board to oppose the adoption of the metric system of measurement in the United Kingdom. Believing that the established imperial system of measurement had both ancient and sacred origins, through the Board he brought out a newsletter, Just Measure.[50] In 1972 he published the first of his "Radical Traditionalist Papers", A Defence of Sacred Measures, in which he laid out his opposition to the metric system.[50] In his third Radical Traditionalist Paper, published in 1973, he argued against population control, critiquing the ideas of Thomas Robert Malthus and arguing that correct use of resources could maintain an ever-growing human population.

He wrote The New View over Atlantis and City of Revelation and hung out with Mick Jagger.

[redpoint5]

All I know is if I have to figure out what 16’ 2 and 1/16th” minus 3’ 7 and 3/8th” in my head again, I’m succeeding.

[freebeard]

Thou might convert to thou. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thousandth_of_an_inch

A thousandth of an inch is a derived unit of length in a system of units using inches. Equal to 1⁄1000 of an inch, a thousandth is commonly called a thou /ˈθaʊ/ (used for both singular and plural) or particularly in North America a mil (plural mils).

The words are shortened forms of the English and Latin words for "thousand" (mille in Latin). In international engineering contexts, confusion can arise because mil is a formal unit name in North America but mil or mill is also a common colloquial clipped form of millimetre.[1] The units are considerably different: a millimetre is approximately 39 mils.

[redpoint5]

I’ll start using thou when there are 10 inches in a foot, 10 feet in a yard, and 100 yards in a mile, or something else divisible by the number of fingers on my hands.

[Isaac Zachary]

Darest thou! Why shouldest thou find another meaning of "thou?" He who hath thought such nonsense knoweth not the English language.