Underground Parking Garage

Agreed. It really bugs me to be in an non-hybrid ICEV w/no auto-start/stop system. The stupid engine is idling uselessly and consuming fuel needlessly.

 

i remember trying to leave a game or concert at the boston garden from the bowels of the parking garage. hundreds (thousands?) of cars sitting there for hours idling. imagine being stuck behind a diesal? they must have some serious ventilation in those buildings. when we go into the city, i always save my charge for the probable traffic jam, it's a beautiful thing!

 

stop/start is the one simple technology that could be forced upon any car manufac. not building Hybrids/EVs

 

Took a cab days ago, it was a new Mercedes (Bluemotion?) with start/stop capabilities. Problem is that it can be cancelled by the driver and he did override it for the sake of air-conditioning...(usual practice he said)

I heard there are states (New Jersey?) and countries (Germany?) limiting by law the time for idling while stationary to 2-3 minutes or so. Is this true?

 

I understand that is the law in Germany. I don't believe it's enforced tho. I have been doing this for years at long lights. ( non-hybrids

 

BMW recently added stop/start to a few models. I have yet to read a review where the driver did not state how jarring the restart was commenting that the shudder was unbecoming of a BMW. They all turned it off. I don't understand overriding it for air conditioning. You'd think the technology was programmed to keep the ICE on when air conditioning was needed. I mean, the PiP doesn't drive in electric mode in extreme cold.

 

Sure it does. Here's a drive I captured last winter in Minnesota, with the temperature at -2°F

 

Yes:


Some local cities are pushing drivers to not idle, but are not yet backing it up with any penalties.

 

It is especially interesting to observe that the majority of drivers in MN drive exactly like the drivers in CA, or, any other part of the country. They rush up to the light and wait for you to catch up before moving on again, very considerate! Nice video John and a nice drive. So one can get good results in cold weather also.

 

Well now, one has a legal excuse for not moving off immediately at the green light. This may very well annoy the driver behind you. New law, new consequences.

 

One factor is parking outside in winter, when you're pretty much forced to idle, 'till the windshield's clear. Anyone garage parking really has a leg up in this situation.

What does a PIP do in this situation?

 

You dehumidify *before* parking.

Just open 2 windows as you are finishing your drive. The temperature difference and the airflow cause the interior to dry out... preventing most of the windshield fog/frost from ever happening.

In my case, I have to open one window anyway, to flash my card to get the parking entrance arm to rise. So, it's no big deal.

 

i do 99% of my winter driving without the ice. there is the occasional fire up on a steep downhill i haven't quite figured out yet.

 

I wish it were the law in CA. If you drop by the In-N-Out Burger in my city on a busy night (e.g. Friday or Saturday), you'll almost always see a MASSIVE lineup of cars in the drive thru (12-20 cars). Almost none are hybrids or ones w/auto-start/stop (since they almost don't exist here yet). Some of them are battering ram of death class SUVs.

There's a huge parking lot connected to that burger joint, so I guess gas at ~$4/gallon is still to cheap for people and people are too lazy to get out and go into the lobby/dining area of the place. People will complain about "high" gas prices but won't do simple little things to avoid wasting fuel.

 

Regular stop lights are not long enough to trigger the law. The signs are in parking lots, mostly in places where diesel buses and trucks congregate.

 

Recall that with the Prius (PiP or standard), A/C is electric powered, so turning off the ICE does not effect A/C. If you are idling long enough, the ICE will have to kick in to put some charge into the battery, but that doesn't take long.