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Japanese Mileage Maniacs
WY writes "Bloomberg reports on the quirky world of Japanese hybrid car hackers: 'Toyota Motor Corp. says its Prius gasoline-electric hybrid car gets about 55 miles to the gallon, making it one of the most fuel-efficient cars on the road. That's not good enough for Takashi Toya.' He managed to reach as high as 115 MPG. He is one of about 100 nenpimania, Japanese for mileage maniacs."
he just won that multimillion dollar xprize for 100+ mpg from a practical car!
damn he's lucky.. if he knows about it and turns it in that is.
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A minor point is that in most of the United States, at least, it is illegal to drive barefoot.
What? Serious?
So, what counts as "not barefoot"? Does it have to be shoes or is socks sufficient? What material is allowed for the socks - could you just use nylon hose to count as "not barefoot" or does the foot cover have to be opaque? Who defines what counts as "shoes"? or "soles"? How much of the foot does the "shoe" have to cover? If you're driving an automatic, do you still need shoes on both feet? Where do you apply for an exemption in case of a cast? Can you get a religious exemption? Can you be exempt for really bad foot fungus?
Do your police examine peoples' shoes or do you have special roving "foot patrols" to keep the law? How many people are being prosecuted for this?
"Sir, step away from that shoe horn and I mean _right_now_"
I'll never take any comment on European "nanny states" seriously ever again.
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Don't they use kilometers there?
Well if you want to get that technical, yes we use kilometers here. But even in English speaking countries, mileage is commonly used because "kilometrage" would just sound silly. Mileage or simply "fuel efficiency" is acceptable.
But just for the pedantic, the japanese characters for "nenpi" (I'd type them here but Slashdot doesn't seem to accept Japanese characters) are literally translated as the character for "burn" (On reading of 'nen') and the character for "cost" or "consumption" (On reading of 'hi' or in this case, 'pi'). Mileage is just the (American) English equivalent. Fuel consumption would probably be more widely accepted.
If a regular engine can get 50+ MPG it shouldn't be hard for a Hybrid to get 70 or 80+, if not 100+.
Highway mileage has nothing to do with hybrid vs. non-hybrid. You're still getting energy from the same fuel, in the same way. Even with a hybrid's electric motor helping with acceleration for passing, guess where energy to charge the battery back up again comes from? Ding, the gasoline motor (some regenerative braking, but most of the hybrids don't wait that long before they start charging the pack.)
Take a look at the Insight. It gets noticeably more mileage than any of its hybrid siblings- I think it's in the high 60's or low 70's. Why? It's super-streamlined, complete with wheel skirts over the rear wheels. Now, notice that the shape is quite reminiscent of the Honda CRX, a car that got 50MPG, in the early 80's?
If you completely switched off the hybrid system in a Prius or Honda Civic or (snicker) that hybrid Lexus SUV, guess what- highway gas mileage wouldn't change. The overwhelming factors for highway mileage are aerodynamics and rolling friction (tires, bearings, drivetrain components.) Lowering weight helps too; less energy required to accelerate and go up hills- and hybrids have that working against them because the battery packs, extra electronics+wiring, and traction motor all add weight.
Diesels like the VW TDIs get 45-50MPG on the highway, and they do it with the same aerodynamics as standard VW's AND the extra weight of the heavier diesel engine, because diesels are more efficient. Put a diesel engine in a Insight, and you'd probably get a similar boost in mileage as between an gasoline Jetta and a TDI Jetta. Heck, you might crack 100mpg without breaking a sweat.
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I really wish around here in BC they would change the licence/insurance laws. I used to drive a truck (until the head gasket went and leaked all the coolant into the oil pan) and I now drive a tercel. However, I would like to insure both under a single licence. Why? Because there are times when I could use a truck, and I used to use my truck to fill a need about 1 time every week. The rest of the time I could have got by with a much more fuel efficent car. However, licencing 2 vehicles offsets the value in having more than one. If I could have swapped plates from truck to car, I could have driven the truck 1 day a week, and the car the other 6. But this is not legal here. Hell, if I could do that I would rather have a truck and a smart fortwo car. Because on my own the fortwo would work great, and for those times where I need more space, I can drive the truck.
Changing insurance methods could save gas in situations like these.
Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
You are absolutely right except the "behind the truck bit". I would not do that as I may end up "between the trucks". Unfortunately, your advice is hard to apply (at least in the UK).
Unfortunately at least in this country (UK) you are likely to cause a case of road rage. All driving schools teach a completely different driving style. Namely, you are taught to go close to the roundabout without deccelerating and switch 4-to-2nd or 5-to-3rd for the big ones to kill your speed right away with the engine while helping yourself with the breaks. Same for traffic lights, stopping, etc. Even if it is absolutely clear that a traffic light will go green any minute, the average british driver will go all the way to it, break, stop and wait. As a result if you deccelerate early the one bihind you may end up smashing into you or uses breaks to deccelerate early and gets pissed off.
Most of the population drives like that. I used to drive the way you describe (and I still do if I am more or less alone on the road) and I had idiots behind me flashing lights at me all the time.
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Kojien (the Japanese equivalent of the Oxford dictionary) defines "nenpi" as "fuel consumption as represented by kilometers per liter".
Well of course it does. Kilometers and liters are used here in Japan, hence it would be measured in kilometers per liter. Or sometimes liters per 100km (xL/100km). But the characters used for nenpi do not have reference to kilometers or miles.
Take for example the phrase "Top speed". The phrase doesn't refer to kph or mph or meters per second or anything, but depending on its context, you can judge which is appropriate. If you're in the US, it'd be more appropriate to use mph, if you're in Japan, it'd be more appropriate to use kph. If you're talking about a satellite in orbit, maybe meters per second might be more appropriate.
The phrase "nenpi" is almost only purely used in reference to fuel consumption of cars. However I have seen it used in reference to physical fitness, so I think any jisho (dictionary) saying nenpi is purely measured in kilometers per liter is being too narrow in its definition.
Reducing weight would help a lot. I seem to recall reading on fueleconomy.gov that if all the current vehicles kept their drivetrain technology but had the same vehicle weight as the average car in the late 1980s, the US fleet fuel economy would go up by about 33%.
the good ground has been paved over by suicidal maniacs
I was going to write that the grid can't handle any significant fraction of the population doing that, but actually, it can. Assume that a typical commuter does 20 miles/day in an electric car that otherwise (in weight and aerodynamics) is comparable to a 60 mpg car. Energy-wise you gain a factor 2 since the charging/discharging cycle is more efficient than burning fuel. With these assumptions, it means you would consume just about 5 kWh per day during off-peak hours, which is actually quite realistic.
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Larger on the outside, maybe. Having ridden in a couple, I would call the Prius a 4-door subcompact!
I can't actually drive a Prius. I'm 6'0" and 14 stone (a little below 200lb), and physically don't fit in the driver's seat. It doesn't go back far enough for my legs, so my knees hit the steering wheel. My right shoulder is bumping against the door pillar and my left shoulder is invading my passenger's space. It's just too damn small - more cramped inside than my AX (which is "cosy" to say the least with more than two people inside), and *way* smaller than my CX (which still doesn't quite have as much legroom as I'd like, despite being nearly 1/2 as big again as a Prius).