50MPG from Chevy Cruze Diesel

You're suggesting a total emissions like 'CARB' or "carbon' credits. I could be OK with that provided there were a frame work or model that allows the vehicle census be kept current. Just too much tailoring can lead to a regulation mess.

Bob Wilson

 

Don't have a problem with using one table. Just threw that out there as evidence diesel bias at the EPA.
The main one is that the EPA tests underrate diesel fuel economy, and the EPA knows this from their own surveys. They also know that the average city to highway mix for American drivers is closer to 49:51. That metric is used for pollution modeling programs, but the window sticker combined is still 55:45.

 

Some of that folk-lore comes from half a decade of VW cheating that turned on emissions controls during a test and then off in the field:

We know the BMW diesel was honest so I would believe a survey comparing fuelly vs EPA metrics. But the others, no.

Too many of them like Mercedes have been 'after the fact' revealed to have protected the engine by disabling emissions controls and laws. Heck, even the RAM diesel is in 'stop sales' because they were not ... forthcoming. But this is not high on my list of priorities.

As for the ratio of city/highway miles, in one respect owners may 'self-select' their cars based upon their thinking of expected efficiency. Certainly before modern emissions controls, manual transmission diesels had an advantage that the parents of today's buyers might have grown up with.

So we may have to agree to disagree. At least you can see how I feel about that side of the 'elephant'.

Bob Wilson

 

Nearly 75,000 miles on one of our cars, purchased new. It's the daily driver - 20 miles each way to work. ONLY 5 miles of the 20 are surface streets. 1 out of 4 ratio. I haven't reset the car's "average speed" meter since it was new. What do you think its average speed is, considering that ratio .... surprisingly, at least to me ... a measly 26.4 mph. One might imagine it ought to be more than 40mph, if owners truly ran a 50/50 city/hwy ratio. ymmv.
.

 

Part of the problem is the definition of average speed:

• Average Speed when moving so when stopped, it doesn't change.
• Average Speed including 0 mph so when stopped, it counts down.

Bob Wilson

 

Yep - averaging speed while acounting for traffic jams, & red lights, & waiting for people to get out or in the car etc - while the diesel goes flom flom flom flom flom flom flom flom flom flom flom flom flom flom flom flom flom flom flom flom flom flom flom flom

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Change your energy supplier to Wind or Solar. My Prime isn't a rolling coal boat, it's a spinning wind turbine.

 

This is also interesting. A map showing power generation across the USA :

Mapping how the United States generates its electricity - Washington Post

Note however that this is an 'old' map ( as of May 2015 ). That means there is a bit more wind/solar than is shown on the map. However, it gives you a general idea. It also doesn't take personal and business-generated power into account...

This doesn't have anything to do with your energy profile though..because obviously the generated power is often sent elsewhere, etc...You can also purchase vouchers ( i.e. - pay extra ) to bump op your 'alternative' energy usage.

Interesting map nonetheless. In my neck of the woods (southern Minnesota), wind energy is huge...and getting bigger every year. However, we still do rely on coal for a large percentage of our power...some of it from the large coal-fired power plants in North Dakota.

 

My info comes from the 2006 document, Final Technical Support Document - Fuel Economy Labeling of Motor Vehicle Revisions to Improve Calculation of Fuel Economy Estimates.
Document Display | NEPIS | US EPA
It is pre-VW cheating survey data, but it also means we don't know what effect current diesel emission controls beyond DPF have on diesel's EPA to real world ratio.

The online survey was run by Oak Ridge National Labs at the time, but is now run by the EPA on Fueleconomy.gov. Fuelly.com didn't arrive until 2008. As an user opt in survey, there will be selection bias to people that want to track their fuel usage, but it was not limited to diesels, and open to all car models available at the time. It would include hybrids, and plenty of gasoline cars from then. So the city to highway ratios reported should be close to the population's. The average ratio reported there coincided with what the EPA used in their MOVES program.

Stops and traffic creeping are going to drag down what the vehicle reports as average speed. I don't know for sure if the stops on the city test cycle factor into the 21.2mph average, but it is clearer on the highway cycle with there being no stops; 48.3mph average.

About two thirds of my 30 mile one way commute is on a 4 lane highway with no lights, and traffic moves at around 60mph. The trip comp reports average speeds in the low 30mph's for tanks.

The new Cruze diesel has start stop standard.

 

Nothing inherently wrong with start/stop. But I recall the Malibu dealers charging thousands for that privilege. And GM slapped a 'hybrid' badge on it.
LA 2007: Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid - Autoblog
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i have to admit, i would like to drive a start stop diesel. that is quite an accomplishment.

 

To be entirely fair, that wasn't just a start-stop system. It also actually provided propulsive assistance. Not much at all, but it did provide it.

Effectively, it was a less powerful, but similar in behavior as I understand, version of what Honda did on the first-gen Insight and Civic Hybrid.

 

Goes something like this (when not regenerating DPF):
Rtprtprtprtrtptprtppt (typical diesel engine idling)....clonk (car shakes when stops engine)...
Silence (it can be very silent, almost like a gasoline car, but a slight bonk of the hot exhaust supports once in a while)
ClonkPeeeee (car shakes again when starting) Rtprtptrpptrptrpt (as above)...



Not interesting, believe me.

 

how would i get an extension cord from my car into a hotel room?

 

That also had regenerative braking, so makes the step up to mild hybrid.

I am curious about the Cruze's start/stop. The one in the Malibu, the model after eAssist was cancelled, had a second, deep discharge, 12 volt battery. Without that, a start/stop system could shorten the starter battery's life.

 

Your EV draws vastly more power than your laptop or cell phone. Absent a dedicated EV charging circuit, your room likely lacks the electrical capacity to charge an EV in additional to the appliances and lights that many customers commonly use.

On top of that, rooms are usually not close enough to parking to charge without an extension cord. Such extensions are very strongly discouraged by nearly all EV charger manuals.

Ask the facilities manager for permission and guidance for specific properties. You ought to find good solutions at some, but not all. Don't just assume and blindly plug in.

That is more similar to a larger laptop than to an EV.

Really???:

PC-forgotten-password by fuzzy1 posted Feb 24, 2017 at 6:38 PM

 

<GROAN>Don't expect a tutorial about the other technologies.

Proverbs 18:2-3 Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions.​

Bob Wilson

 

I've done it

 

Think of it as trying to call a bluff, in front of other readers. The old and so-called 'active' account is very clearly flagged as different than the rest of our accounts. In the past, I have understood that flag as a marker of a locked account.

If it really is active, it already has a password reset link in the associated email inbox. He is free to prove me wrong.