A.M.E.C. Economy Run III - Fonda, NY 8-23-09

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

Wow, I live in the same town as the winner -- is he a member here on EM?

[tasdrouille]

What techniques everyone used?

In my case it was pretty simple. I sticked it in 5th and stayed between 1200 and 1500 rpm for the whole trip which translates to 35-40 mph actual (~+2 mph indicated). I did DWL on small hills as long as it would not go out of my 5 mph delta. I had to go up to 50 tps to keep it up crawling the big hills in 5th. Whenever I reached 40 mph with DWL I would EOC. I wanted to look up my current trip on the SG to see how many miles I had OEC but forgot to note it before taking the key off. I was too eager to fill it.

Anybody noted how long they coasted?

[Matt Herring]

Originally Posted by tasdrouille

What techniques everyone used?

In my case it was pretty simple. I sticked it in 5th and stayed between 1200 and 1500 rpm for the whole trip which translates to 35-40 mph actual (~+2 mph indicated). I did DWL on small hills as long as it would not go out of my 5 mph delta. I had to go up to 50 tps to keep it up crawling the big hills in 5th. Whenever I reached 40 mph with DWL I would EOC. I wanted to look up my current trip on the SG to see how many miles I had OEC but forgot to note it before taking the key off. I was too eager to fill it.

Anybody noted how long they coasted?

I probably drive my Prius a little differently than a non-hybrid but here's what techniques I used during the competition...

* State of Charge has to monitored at all times to ensure I'm getting max horsepower at the lowest rpm (ideally SOC is at 60% or higher) so while I tried to use EV mode as much as possible for gas free operation I also had to make sure I was recharging the battery to an efficient state (which I did not do a great job of until I realized how much elevation was on the course and I switched my plan to one of more aggressive going uphill knowing I would get some regen on the huge downhills). So a balance of EV, neutral coast and ICE coast was used. On huge downhill coasts I often did it in ICE to regen the battery if I needed it for the next round of EV use (unless I had sufficient charge in the battery and could neutral coast longer distances).

* I did heavy pulse and glide (mostly in EV mode up to 41 mph and down to 32 mph). This gave me gas free operation but also recharged the battery on the glide. While engine braking did occur on the glide I wasn't using any ICE on the pulse so it didn't matter if my pulse was longer than my glide. I also did some "rpm resetting" on those huge uphills to limit running rpm too high. While crawling it up the biggest hills I would take my foot off the accelerator for a second, watch the rpm go from 2200 down to 1500, then reapply the accelerator which resulted in climbing the hill at 1800 until it went back up to 2200 when I would repeat the process.

* I set a target of 35 mph average speed for the 104 mile course (which would get me to the finish at just under the 3 hour time limit). On some of the roads I saw no traffic for quite a distance (other than the other competition drivers) so I was able to operate easily under 41 mph and in EV mode. At the 55 mile mark my average speed was 33 mph so I picked up the pace a little on the second half of the run (thanks to the downhill coasts which were sometimes at 55-65 mph). I think using the 35 mph standard helped me to not get anxious to hurry up some of those big hills.

[blownb310]

Originally Posted by Wonderboy

I don't remember getting 70.75, but the prospect of it is appealing .

Thanks Will, I found the mistake. Mark didn't know about your unintentional "short cut" [GPS mapping error] which caused you to only complete 95 miles. So with the 1.47 gallons of fuel you used, it comes to 64.62, not 70.75. I corrected the results on post #196.

Mike

[blownb310]

My technique was pretty straightforward. I would P&G and EOC while using 5th gear between 40 and 50 mph. I would stay between 1800 and 2,500 rpms. On the bigger hills I'd sometimes find myself at 35 mph and then had to go down to 4th gear to avoid lugging the engine. At the highest point of the run I coasted to a stop and then made my grill block opening even smaller as the going would be easier from then on.

Mike

[Matt Herring]

Originally Posted by blownb310

My technique was pretty straightforward. I would P&G and EOC while using 5th gear between 40 and 50 mph. I would stay between 1800 and 2,500 rpms. On the bigger hills I'd sometimes find myself at 35 mph and then had to go down to 4th gear to avoid lugging the engine. At the highest point of the run I coasted to a stop and then made my grill block opening even smaller as the going would be easier from then on.

Mike

Haha...you used EOC? Didn't you recommend to us at the drivers meeting to not EOC on the course? I'm just joking with you...but funny to see you did it too like many others last weekend!

[blownb310]

Originally Posted by Matt Herring

Haha...you used EOC? Didn't you recommend to us at the drivers meeting to not EOC on the course? I'm just joking with you...but funny to see you did it too like many others last weekend!

EOC means "engine on cruise" right?

P.S. I have manual steering and brakes as well.

[Matt Herring]

Originally Posted by blownb310

EOC means "engine on cruise" right?

Well if you got 77 mpg using cruise control over that hilly course then "EOC" will forever be known on this site as Engine On Cruise and not Engine Off Coasting...and you will be hoisted on ecomodder shoulders for many years to come!

[RobertSmalls]

Originally Posted by blownb310

EOC means "engine on cruise" right?

P.S. I have manual steering and brakes as well.

You used the brakes? :-P

My technique was EOC + full throttle acceleration in 5th gear (actually 80% throttle, 1600-2000RPM, 35-45mph, to minimize BSFC). There were some hills that were steep enough that I couldn't climb them at 1600RPM, so I made sure I was going 45mph up them.

P+G, plus the grille block, let to uncustomary coolant temperatures. My car normally operates between 185-195°F, but it shot up to 204°F on the first hill until the fan kicked on, and got into the 170's or 160's whenever I fired up the engine after a particularly long glide. It's not ideal to run the engine hard, then switch off the water pump immediately, but hey, the Subaru is built to endure worse.

[RobertSmalls]

One thing I didn't optimize very well was electrical load. I'm so used to leaving my taillights on for visibility, and Darin had to remind me to turn them off. I left the blower motor on speed 2 or 3 the entire time, but I didn't have much of an alternative.

The radiator fan kicked on on lots of the hills, and that draws loads of power. A newer radiator and a better-thought-out grille block, rather than a last minute one, would have mitigated this somewhat.

If I had reduced the load on my alternator throughout the run and unplugged it for the second half, I'd have done a tiny bit better.

Next year, I promise, I won't bring an alternator at all.