Would you have an electric car if you had the money for a new car and were in the market for one?

[Pirahna]

More awkwardness..

https://justthenews.com/nation/states/c ... s-collapse

Haven't they just ordered some very expensive hydrogen powered trains just as Shell have closed all their hydrogen filling stations.

Do you think trains pop out at night for a McDonald's and coffee at the nearest shell filling station?

I imagine trains use their own method.

Or perhaps the filling stations were sited at train depots and could be used to fill different vehicles?

[Horse]

More awkwardness..

https://justthenews.com/nation/states/c ... s-collapse

gas prices in California — $4.62 per gallon, compared $3.08 per gallon nationwide — are only higher in Hawaii



Do you have any idea what we're charged? About £6.45 per gallon.

[Yambo]

Do you have any idea what we're charged? About £6.45 per gallon.

A very simple tax avoidance measure is to drive less.

This of course, is all down to social engineering. Allow out of town shopping centres and make them attractive rates wise, reduce bus services especially to the areas where those shopping centres are and simply take money from the motorist who can't get what they want on the high street.

The motorist is seen by government as nothing more than a cash cow. And you like it that way.

[Slenver]

Haven't they just ordered some very expensive hydrogen powered trains just as Shell have closed all their hydrogen filling stations.

Do you think trains pop out at night for a McDonald's and coffee at the nearest shell filling station?

I imagine trains use their own method.

Or perhaps the filling stations were sited at train depots and could be used to fill different vehicles?

The ones closed are specifically for light vehicles, not even commercial lorries etc. Can't see any reason to suspect they'd handle hatchbacks and passenger trains at the same time, or even how.

[Horse]

Do you have any idea what we're charged? About £6.45 per gallon.

A very simple tax avoidance measure is to drive less.

Or differently.

Whooshing along the M4 to work, high 40s mpg.

Toddle along at 60mph, almost 60mpg over the whole journey.

Even driving 'normally', avoiding the brakes and trying to plan for lights, etc., all improve mpg.

Although with stop-start systems, it's possible that sitting and waiting at lights might be more efficient, I don't know. @Mr. Dazzle any idea?

[Yorick]

More awkwardness..

https://justthenews.com/nation/states/c ... s-collapse

gas prices in California — $4.62 per gallon, compared $3.08 per gallon nationwide — are only higher in Hawaii



Do you have any idea what we're charged? About £6.45 per gallon.

U.S. gallons are smaller.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Although with stop-start systems, it's possible that sitting and waiting at lights might be more efficient, I don't know. @Mr. Dazzle any idea?

Generally speaking, Stop/Start just mitigates the losses of err...having to stop and start. It doesn't improve, it just makes less bad IYSWIM. It's almost always more efficient to keep going, in an ICE.

Not so much in an EV cause they can, as my old boss used to say, "run the engine backwards and make fuel".

[Horse]

More awkwardness..

https://justthenews.com/nation/states/c ... s-collapse

gas prices in California — $4.62 per gallon, compared $3.08 per gallon nationwide — are only higher in Hawaii



Do you have any idea what we're charged? About £6.45 per gallon.

U.S. gallons are smaller.

Indeed they are. But not enough for pro rata costs.

[Horse]

Although with stop-start systems, it's possible that sitting and waiting at lights might be more efficient, I don't know. @Mr. Dazzle any idea?

Generally speaking, Stop/Start just mitigates the losses of err...having to stop and start. It doesn't improve, it just makes less bad IYSWIM. It's almost always more efficient to keep going, in an ICE.

Ok ta. I was thinking of keeping rolling might use a little fuel, but stopped is using none - albeit perhaps more when moving off.

[Mr. Dazzle]

The best thing you can possibly do in an ICE is kill the engine and roll to a stop, then sit there with the engine off. Unfortunately "rolling to a stop" tends to involve quite extended braking distances and it pisses off the people behind you

Using the brakes is terrible, it's just dumping energy into the brake discs which you can't get back. Does stop you quicker though!

[ZRX61]

Although with stop-start systems, it's possible that sitting and waiting at lights might be more efficient, I don't know. @Mr. Dazzle any idea?

Generally speaking, Stop/Start just mitigates the losses of err...having to stop and start. It doesn't improve, it just makes less bad IYSWIM. It's almost always more efficient to keep going, in an ICE.

Not so much in an EV cause they can, as my old boss used to say, "run the engine backwards and make fuel".

I turn that off with the button next to the shifter when I start the car. I was next to a Jeep that had it at a right turn a while back, we were creeping forward owing to traffic. In the space of maybe 150ft I heard the jeep start more times than I use a car in a month. Not the first time I've witnessed this.

[Mr. Dazzle]

In my car the engine will happily turn off while you're doing 70mph on the motorway

It's got an enormous starter motor/generator/assistance motor which is more than man enough to propel the car along while simultaneously starting the engine with no "chugs", s'also got loads of sound deadening and a very fast reacting auto transmission.

Alot of the time the only way to tell if the engine is even on is to look at the rev counter, even when you're moving.

[Noggin]

I bloody HATE that auto-turn-off thingy almost as much as the headlights that won't go on full beam if you are under 50kmph!!

The auto turn off thing is a sodding nightmare for me on transfers as often it kills the engine just as I get to a junction and, as I'm in an auto minibus it's got a lag anyway, so I have to get the engine back on before I even consider trying to get the thing to pull out into a gap!!!

I always forget to turn it off until I need it not to happen!!

Probably is good (especially in an auto) in town/slow traffic, but not for roundabouts/junctions/getaway car from a bank job!

[Yorick]

I bloody HATE that auto-turn-off thingy almost as much as the headlights that won't go on full beam if you are under 50kmph!!

The auto turn off thing is a sodding nightmare

I don't see the point, but it's great when off-roading and stall it. Starts instantly and get back on the gas

[Mr. Dazzle]

Very few roundabouts where I live of course

[Noggin]

Very few roundabouts where I live of course

But you're not driving an underpowered automatic Renault minibus!!

[Mr. Dazzle]

No I suspect the nature of vehicle makes a big difference.

My old manual beemer only killed the engine if you stopped and dropped into neutral. It could/did restart in less time than it took you to get back into gear...I know, I tried to "outrun" it loads of times just for a laugh, never with success.

As above, my current auto will start moving and pull away even before the engine has fully caught. The starter motor is something like 25bhp, so it's juicey enough to pull off and start the engine at the same time.

I've never known any of these systems to take more than 2s to start, usually much less than 1s IME, and if you can't time/judge your pull away to account for that you're probably doing something wrong

[MrLongbeard]

Best invention since auto stop / start was fitted to a car;

[Count Steer]

First car I had with autostop I turned it off every trip...for about a week. Never bothered about it after that and never think about it, start is near instantaneous. (I know not all cars are the same...at the traffic light grand prix once in my old (auto) Volvo I heard the other contestants car cough into life from somewhere behind me...but it must have been an early implementation as it was a while ago and the other car wasn't new).

[Noggin]

I've never known any of these systems to take more than 2s to start, usually much less than 1s IME, and if you can't time/judge your pull away to account for that you're probably doing something wrong

It takes around a second to restart but also there is a lag on the acceleration. So, even with the engine on, from a standing start I have to account for the delay in the vehicle actually getting moving when I'm looking at gaps in the traffic (roundabouts are the main issue as folks here are slightly random on them!). Add in the time to get the engine started to the lag in acceleration and it makes things 'interesting'. I never go for a gap if the engine isn't already going!!

I may well be doing something wrong, but I've not worked out what it is yet, so I just kill the stop start once out of town (well, out of Annecy!) and then I only have to account for the lag in acceleration