Slashdot Mirror
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."
Oh, it's real. FTFA:
Toya accelerates, or pulses, to 29 mph, then glides down to 25 mph before pulsing again. The car uses no fuel when gliding.
This style of driving is as real as being able to drive 26 MPH to work. With stop and start traffic, which can slow you to an average of 4MPH despite bursts of 45, you can not do this. It is impossible in most US cities due to urban sprawl and poorly thought out streets.
It is possible in cities with decent ground streets like parts of Chicago and New Orleans. Where this is possible, you could also ride a bike or other human or solar powered vehicle and public transport also works. Finally, note that sprawl is still desirable as a protection against nuclear terrorism.
Low density, mixed business residential and leisure spaces built on grid street layouts should be encouraged.
DMCA, Hollings, Palladium. What might have sounded like paranoia is now common sense.
Kojien (the Japanese equivalent of the Oxford dictionary) defines "nenpi" as "fuel consumption as represented by kilometers per liter".