What planet are you people living on?

maybe he has a special edition

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Danny Hamilton @ Aug 11 2007, 07:08 PM) [snapback]494191[/snapback]</div>

My $0.02
You may lose this bet if you don't specify the speed as one of your conditions on the HILL wager. I have no experience with the A/C so make no comment on those conditions.

I do have a lot of experience with mountainous travel as my normal commute is 500 miles with about half of that on slightly rolling or flat roads and the other half over six summits as high as 5300 ft. One direction starts at sea level and ends up at 1400 feet and of course the other direction is the reverse of that. I have done this round trip twelve times in the last year in all seasons. My MFD always indicates the same value (a few times) or a better value (most of the times) at the bottom of the decent than what I had at the start of the ascent (being from Canada, the MFD indicates the same or lower l/100km reading). This is consistent in both directions.

Here are some of the conditions that are usually common on this commute:
-my speed on the flat or rolling sections is at the posted limit (100-110kpm) because the traffic is heavier
-my speed in the mountains is sometimes less than posted limit (80-90kph) as a lot of the climbs are 6-8% and I try to limit the ICE rpm to 3400, traffic is usually light, and usually there is a passing lane for any traffic that catches me
-I very often get stuck behind an ascending transport truck that slows me and help decrease my l/100km
-I am never able to fully utilize regeneration as the declines are so long and steep that the battery SOC is maxed out quite quickly and ICE compression and friction brakes come into play throwing away all that wonderful energy.

I love the Prius and know I am not defying any laws of physics and feel very good that my commute though the mountains doesn't affect my overall mileage (or litreage). Average about 4 l/100km in the summer and 4.5 in the winter (58 and 52mpusg)

 

What PriusTouring07 has said is possible. There will be no free lunch but the key point is that the ICE efficiency is not a constant. ICE will be more efficient at certain power output, usually around 3/4 peak power. Prius ICE's peak power is 70 horsepower, so this means the peak efficiency is achieved at around 50 horsepower. When you cruise at 60 mph on a flat highway, your engine's power output is not so big -- 20-30 horsepower will be enough. So at this time your engine doesn't run at peak efficiency. When going uphill, ICE needs to produce more power so that ICE may have a higher efficiency than flat road cruising. Indeed, I did have a few uphill/downhill driving but I haven't notice any significent change of mpg.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Loong @ Nov 13 2007, 04:45 PM) [snapback]539173[/snapback]</div>

Yet the extra friction caused by going against gravity will likely negate any extra efficiency the engine sees due to rpms correct? That extra power will require more fuel as well. It may be more efficient in repsect to fuel vs HP but it will still use more fuel. At least that seems logical.

 

Two comments...

The heat (energy) content of air rises dramatically with humidity of the air. Humid air contains significantly more energy at 100 degrees than dry air at 100 degrees. Therefore, it takes significantly more energy to cool humid air 20 degrees than it does to cool dry air 20 degrees.

So, it would not surprise me in the least to hear people living in the dry desert climates, like Arizona, to say it doesn't cost them much to run the A/C, while people living in humid climates, like the the south-east, claim it has a noticable impact.

Secondly, mountains, particularly "steep" mountains, rarely have the same elevation on each side.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Aug 6 2007, 10:21 AM) [snapback]491236[/snapback]</div>

I thought this site enforced rules that don't allow any member bashing, and to restrict arguments against ideas only. For a "moderator", you should know better.