| [GMCnet] They all do [message #91219] |
Tue, 06 July 2010 07:15  |
Gerald Work
Messages: 102
Registered: June 2010
Karma:
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Senior Member |
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Hi Richard,
I am glad you find the posts of interest.
To your question.....Alcohol has far less heat content than gasoline so drops the mileage for all cars that try to burn it. Modern computer controlled engines go to great lengths to try to offset this problem, some with greater success than others. My wife's 2010 Prius, for example, uses an Atcheson (sp?) cycle rather than Otto cycle design and pushes compression up over two digits with lots of fancy valve and timing management to get a true 50 mpg even burning this junk. Our old design engines just can't manage all those parameters well enough to do well trying to burn something for which they were not designed. The front mounted mechanical fuel pump sure doesn't help any either as the many different things mixed into the fuel can all contribute to the volatility on hot days.
On the subject of the Prius, it would be instructive for those who still promulgate the rumors about short battery life to do some research. In typical Toyota fashion they manage the battery pack very conservatively from about 85 to 45 percent. The result is that battery replacement has been a virtually non existent issue even for the first generation cars that have been on the road for over a dozen years and battery performance simply does not change with age unless there is something wrong mechanically. Each of the three design generations of Prius have used different battery designs, but all to date have used NIMH technology, not Li technology. Only in the 3rd generation plug hybrid is Toyota experimenting with Li technology, and then only carefully.
On the third gen designs there is a button on the dash labeled EV which throws the car into electric only mode but that function is heavily software controlled so as not to over tax the traction battery. That battery is actually quite small and occupies only some of the available space over the spare tire. Room for lots more battery if they ever decide they need it.
I know, I know, those who want to bash this technology will no matter what the facts are, but if you have not actually driven one of these 3 rd gen units you might be in for a shock. They would be best of breed cars even without all the hybrid stuff and from our experience of more than a year they are well worth the price. We would buy another in a heart beat. There is a reason they are the number one selling car in Japan and several other markets at the moment.
Jerry
Message: 19
Date: Tue, 06 Jul 2010 06:06:26 -0500
From: Richard MacDonald <rm1936@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [GMCnet] Cross country adventure - part 11
To: gmclist@temp.gmcnet.org
Message-ID: <16448.4c330e31@gmc.mybirdfeeder.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-15"
Have followed you across the Country, really enjoy your Posts, thanks.
Is it just our Coaches that are so adversely affected by the quality of fuel or do all vehicles see the decrease in mileage with Ethenol?
--
Richard MacDonald
Punta Gorda, Florida
76 Edgemonte TZE 266V102313
94 K2500 6.5 Turbo Diesel Silverado
Sent from my iPad
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