It's a Wonderful Day for Science!

You know A thought of the comiedian Eddie Murphy comes to mind from a skit he did called Ice Cream. A little boy hears an ice cream truck and runs after the truck screaming ice cream man, then the truck stops and the little kids are all buying thier ice cream.. Little eddie did not get any because he didnt have enough money,
so the other kids teased him saying ice cream I've got ice cream and you don't cause your momas on welfare ect. well I see posts where people cant buy a hybrid because of $$ problems and I think of the ice cream skit and in my brain I replace the ice cream with Hybrid...(ok im a little out there)

Why would you force manual stop (note its not auto because your shutting the eng off) on a delsole ? LOL, was it a test to see what kinda mileage youd get??

I think the mileage is impressive, I guess the kh/l thing is screwed up anyone that has to drive on the wrong side of the road and uses kelometers & liters must be wacky nu nu..... But then on the other hand they could say the same about us..LOL

Also it sounds like too much work shut off bump on , hey you cold rig one of those clapper things and it would be automatic (clap on & clap off, the clapper)!

What happend to your prius?

If I had 3 cars Id sell/trade in on another hybrid .. if I could not afford the prius then I guess I would have the buy the cheaper honda <j/k> but I would have two and saving that much more in fuel without fighting with the ice

 

I do it because it is a waste of fuel not to do it.

I don't find turning a key very much work. Nor do I find engaging the clutch much work. I would have had to do it anyway, even if the engine was on.

My wife drives it now instead of the Outback. 45MPG vs 18MPG. She only burns 40% of what she used to.

My point is that you don't need to a hybrid to get good mileage. You just need to be willing to put in a little extra time and effort. I got a sporty two seater with removeable top for one fifth the cost of another Prius. The mileage isn't quite as good as I would get with the Prius but I am still learning to drive the del Sol. Targeting 60 MPG by spring.

BTW, I don't fight the ICE. We work as a team.

 

How well do the brakes work when the engine is shut off? Steering?

Just curious,

Don

 

Great point to bring up Don.

The steering works just fine because I have manual steering. The brakes work fine until the 5th or 6th application which I found out through testing. I have never run out of braking boost, but if I do, I am always prepared to let out the clutch and voila, instant vacuum.

 

krousdb]I do it because it is a waste of fuel not to do it.





I don't find turning a key very much work. Nor do I find engaging the clutch much work. I would have had to do it anyway, even if the engine was on.
Im picturing someone driving down the interstate or in city traffic doing this, wouldn't your steering , braking & accessories be compromised that would be a safety issue wouldn't it?



My wife drives it now instead of the Outback. 45MPG vs 18MPG. She only burns 40% of what she used to. I can relate to this as we got rid of our 2nd-3rd car and have the prius & a pick-up that now only gets driven on sat. as Im stuck in a lease or I would have gotten another hybrid...



My point is that you don't need to a hybrid to get good mileage. You just need to be willing to put in a little extra time and effort. I got a sporty two seater with removeable top for one fifth the cost of another Prius. The mileage isn't quite as good as I would get with the Prius but I am still learning to drive the del Sol. Targeting 60 MPG by spring. You may not need a hybrid to get good mileage, but it seems your going through more wear and tear on the car that was not designed for that kinda use but more power to you..

BTW, I don't fight the ICE. We work as a team.

 

I agree and disagree. You are right that "you don't need to a hybrid to get good mileage" but you do need a hybrid to get better than "good mileage." It is a question of energy management and there are operational hybrid domains, especially if 'plug-in' is allowed, that non-hybrids will never reach ('Prius-plus').

My other comment is that driving a hybrid 'opens one's mind' to high mileage techniques. These techniques have not been exploited in gas-only vehicles but remain 'low hanging fruit.' Simple things like 'neutral coast' and engine off when possible are entirely within the range of current 'gas only vehicles' BUT they are not evident.

Bob Wilson

 

I don't drive in traffic and I don't turn the engine off on the highway. I have chosen a route that runs alongside of the highway, which no one else seems to want to use. Why go 40 when you can go 80 I guess.

My manual steering obviously is not affected and the accessories run just fine with or without the engine on. All power brake systems have a vacuum reservior that ensures safe stops should the engine stop. In my testing I have found that It takes 5 to 6 full pumps before losing power, but even then the brakes still work, just harder to push. I have never lost power brakes during driving. I would say that what I am doing is safer than driving while talking on a cell phone, which is something I never do.

I guess I dont understand what you mean by wear and tear. I turn the key a few more times a day and bump starting is no different then a shift during aggressive accelleration. All cars are designed for such use. If anything my car sees less wear and tear than the average car because I drive for economy, never heavy on the throttle and very little braking.

 

We call what Dan does a FAS or Forced Auto Stop. Our hybrids have electric power steering so we do not lose power steering during a FAS. If you drive a regular car that has non-electric PS you will lose PS during a FAS and the car will become harder to steer. My Vette becomes VERY hard to steer without PS.

Brakes are a bigger worry IMO. As far as I know all most all cars including hybrids use vacuum to boost braking power. This vacuum is stored up in a cannister and is ususally good for a few applications before it runs out. It is very dangerous to be expecting power brakes only to find that they are no longer working. I advise anyone thinking of doing a FAS to learn as much as they can about their power brakes before the attempt. Pumping the brakes will bleed off vacuum much faster than constant pressure, in fact you can lose PS in a single application if you pump the brakes. I FAS all the time and every once in a while I lose power brakes. This usually happens when I'm forced to slow down unexpectedly a time or two on a downhill only to speed up again with the car still off.

Learn about power brakes here:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/power-brake.htm

Make sure to check out and understand the vacuum booster animation on this page:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/power-brake2.htm

Doing a FAS is dangerous so please be careful and make sure you understand what you are doing before attempting a FAS.

 

Well on a run, how many times do you FAS? I mean the car wasn't designed to turn off and on consistently unless your telling me it's okay!? I don't get the science behind it, how many "cranks " can a starter go for before giving up? How about the 12 volt battery, aren't you abusing that too? I thought turning the engine off and on is bad for the engine too (I mean isn't that why idling exists?) At least I understand the prius revs the engine to a certain RPM before allowing fuel to be injected into the cylinders.

but a normal car doesn't have that kind of luxury

 

With my hybrid I FAS every time the car will coast for 0.2 miles or more. This amounts to about 11 FAS events on the 18 mile trip home from work.

With the non-hybrid Vette I tend to only shut the car off if it will coast for about 0.5 miles or more. On a typical trip home from work I'll kill it about 6 times driving the Vette. The starter and key switch my indeed wear out prematurely.