End of Diesel cars is Nigh?

[kaanage]

I saw a Lexus CT200H on the road on Friday and if this is the future then I'm happy to live in the past!
The Drive preview in The Age reported that it can run purely on electrical power for up to 2km - that has to be a missprint doesn't it?

[PassatB6]

I read a quote from a VW exec (of course I can't find the article now!) claiming that the world will never go for electric cars as the major form of personal transport because the power needs of 60 million electric cars recharging each night would require many more new power stations to cope with the load. This is one of the reasons they went with diesel and alternative fuels.

This is why the whole electric car thing is a bit of a green fantasy; we would need to generate even more energy from power stations to cope with the change to electric cars, something environmentally friendly electric car users won't be in favour of. As the price of electricity skyrockets we won't want to plug in a car as well.

[kaanage]

Don't ever try to argue with the green crowd using quantitative analysis - "do the math" is a verbal abuse phrase to them.
On top of the extra generating capacity is the need for increased transmission capacity to the local substations at the very least (if not right to the households/buildings) so you have 2 MAJOR infrastruture requirments.

Did a genuine sub 4l / 100km on a 15km run with medium traffic in my diesel Polo (suburban flat road, not much wind). Stick that up ya hybrid a$$

[PassatB6]

Did a genuine sub 4l / 100km on a 15km run with medium traffic in my diesel Polo (suburban flat road, not much wind). Stick that up ya hybrid a$$

That's pretty damn good. Whose going gaga over Prius now? No-one. Toyota are selling only 50 Prius a month in Aust. down 62% from last year at this time. I would say this thread should have been 'end of the hybrid is nigh'

[Greg Roles]

Hwere I find oilers truly amazing is when you flog them senseless, get into serious 4000rpm plus, and it returns 0.5L average more.

My old GT FPV would return almost twice average MORE when used in anger. It was big fun though....

[Buller_Scott]

in all honesty, it really feels like my pog uses way more fuel when im flooring it in ''track'' map.

i dont mind it at all, but if you're asking me to be truthful.... i reckon i'd easily be approaching ~8L / 100km's when fanging it in the hills.

[kaanage]

While actually fanging, yes. But overall, I doubt it.
On our 9N3 cruise, late last year, where I followed you up the Reefton, I averaged 4.9l / 100km for the whole cruise.

[Buller_Scott]

when you're driving for fuel economy, in smooth flowing traffic, what gear would you be in whilst doing 65km/h say? 5th will do it, but is that unhealthy for the engine / lugging it?

[kaanage]

Since our 1.9 PD engines don't have a DPF, we can be a bit more aggressive in terms of pushing fuel economy with low rpm. The big caveat is that you don't want to damage the dual mass flywheel by lugging so you end up doing more gear shifts when gunning for mileage.

As 65 km/h with smooth traffic flow, I'll run in 5th gear no problems, unless there is a hill that is more than just a slight grade. Basically, if you can feel the engine labouring at all, then downshift but otherwise, go for broke. On a flat or downhill stretch where I'm not needing to accelerate due to traffic ahead, I'll shift into 5th at 50 km/h which is 1000rpm and only use a tiny amount of accelerator to maintain speed or creep it up very slowly if it is downhill. Any time you need to accelerate or go up hill, downshift, then shift up again as soon as the loading passes.

Another key is to downshift like a demon, almost to standstill when approaching red lights or stopped traffic as the diesel doesn't use any fuel on the overrun. It saves the brakes too. And if the lights change, then you can shift up so you aren't revving hard as you accelerate off (feels funny gearing up when you want to accelerate but it works).

Also if you can see that an upcoming hill isn't too long, you can drop a few km/h progressively as you climb and that can greatly reduce the fuel consumption vs stubbornly maintaining your speed (you can compensate by speeding up a few km/h as you approach the base of the hill).

Finally, you need to read the traffic patterns so that you keep the car moving, which can require that you ease off well before the red light so that it changes back to green before you reach it so that you avoid a standing start. Or you may see a light turn green up ahead with a line of stopped and slowing cars in front of you so again, you ease off so that you never have to stop.

It all sounds like hard work so most people won't bother but I find it a challenge and a way to keep from getting bored in traffic. And you get to practise the proper way to downshift

[Buller_Scott]

It all sounds like hard work so most people won't bother but I find it a challenge and a way to keep from getting bored in traffic. And you get to practise the proper way to downshift

cheers for the feedback, greg. i always change down when approaching a hill, so that revs are at least 1800rpm-2000rpm for the journey up the hill, but otherwise it's comforting to know that im not working the engine too hard to be cruising around town at 1300/1400rpm, like i've been doing a lot lately.

and i agree. i always used to keep things @ at least 2000rpm. the last few months, however, i've actually really been enjoying the game / challenge of trying to make a quarter of a tank of fuel last as long as possible (i dont calculate my economy, more "let's see if i can make this quarter tank last 'till the weekend").

i love how it pays you back with tangible rewards, too... (the blatantly abusive cloud of soot that other motorists just cant help asking for, every now and then).