Various transportation methods, how many gallons to go 350 miles

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by wagonman76

And isn't a hybrid about the same efficiency as a typical sedan when driven nonstop on a long trip (like the straight 350 miles from the chart)? The big gains come in the city when you aren't just sitting in traffic and burning gas.

As a matter of fact, no, at least not if you take the Honda Insight to be a typical hybrid. It gets its biggest efficiency gain from having a smaller engine, which runs closer to BSFC optimum in highway cruising. Highway cruising is where it does best*: given a fairly flat road & no headwinds (both rare in these parts) I can often cruise at 80+ mpg. In urban driving, I often drop below 50.

*OK, what it would really do best would be level 2-lane country roads with no stops, where I could stay at 50-60 mph, but there's only one stretch of that around here, about 5 miles long. I can do close to 100 mpg on that bit, if the phase of the moon is right :-)

[igo]

Cool chart. So, I guess I should ride a bus when I am too lazy to ride a bike.

[Piwoslaw]

Here's a link I've had bookmarked for about a year now
Wikipedia: Fuel efficiency in transportation

[Ryland]

motorcycles do seem to average 50-60mpg, not sure? there is already a thread about motorcycle mpg started, my Honda cb125 gets 62mpg or so and my Tomos scooter gets over 100mpg
I'm surprised at the gym on the elliptical walking machine how many watts it says I put out just walking, over 200 watts at about a 2mph pace, that mount of power going in to my electric bike should be able to make it cruse at 8-12mph (400 watts going 25mph on flat), even if there is some variation in the numbers they do seem pretty close for each category of course the last time I road in an SUV there were 7 of us in there and otherwise we would have had to take two vehicles at 18mpg we got around 126mpg per person.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Ryland

motorcycles do seem to average 50-60mpg, not sure? there is already a thread about motorcycle mpg started, my Honda cb125 gets 62mpg or so...

The problem is deciding where to draw the line between motorcycle, scooter, and moped. While a 125 cc motorcycle may get 50-60 mpg, most motorcycles have engines 500 cc and up.

[Daox]

You guys are right. These numbers are actually very conservative. It assumes each form of transportation is at full capacity. When is the last time you saw 5 occupants in an SUV (and on that gets 21 mpg lol), or even a sedan for that matter? I think 56 mpg is high for the majority of the bikes out there too.

[some_other_dave]

Originally Posted by GenKreton

I'm surprised at how bad cruise ships are since cargo ships are so efficient. I'm also surprised amtrack loses that badly to buses. Is there a specific reason?

My guess is that they are assuming a "typical number of passengers" in each case. And since each passenger (particularly on a cruise ship!) needs a lot of "extra" room--the cabins, the entertainment facilities, the extra staff required to deal with them, etc.--you wind up with lots of "wasted" space compared to cargo ships.

I assume something similar is going on with the passenger versus cargo trains.

-soD

[dcb]

Originally Posted by Daox

I think 56 mpg is high for the majority of the bikes out there too.

And most of them can carry 2 people. If you max out the passenger count for the other forms of transport then motorcycles should also be maxed.

[Ryland]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

The problem is deciding where to draw the line between motorcycle, scooter, and moped. While a 125 cc motorcycle may get 50-60 mpg, most motorcycles have engines 500 cc and up.

My brothers Suzuki Katana 600 would get mid 50's for mileage in stock form, a friend of mine gets mid 50's to low 60's for mileage with a Ninja 250 ridden hard, those are both really common motor cycles that can take passengers, worst mileage I ever got on a motorcycle was 47mpg out of the 7 motorcycles I've owned, best was a steady 72mpg out of a Honda cl 160.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Ryland

...best was a steady 72mpg out of a Honda cl 160.

OK, but the 5-year, 85K mile AVERAGE for my Insight is 70.9 mpg :-) Motorcycles I've had - last was an 850 Suzuki - would do closer to 40-50 mpg. One of the smaller reasons why I haven't bothered to get another bike since that one fried its electrical system - the main reason is that I've usually got a dog along these days.