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from the Wir-fahr'n-fahr'n-fahr'n-auf-der-Autobahn dept.
Brought to the floor by Senator John Moorlach of Orange County, SB-319 would direct the state's Department of Transportation to build two unlimited speed lanes on each side of Interstate 5 and State Route 99, the main north-south arteries linking cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento. The sections of the roadways in question run straight through the supremely flat Central Valley, making for ideal high-speed driving conditions.
Perhaps paradoxically, California's answer to the German autobahn would be paid for by the state's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The text of SB-319 points out that the recent collapse of California's ambitious plan for a bullet train between Los Angeles and San Francisco, which was originally intended to trace the same route as the proposed unlimited speed lanes, has left residents without "access to high-speed, unabated transportation across the state."
http://www.thedrive.com/news/26554/california-might-add-lanes-with-no-speed-limits-to-major-highways
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 20 2019, @02:27PM (3 children)
There fixed that for you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 20 2019, @03:32PM
Go back to Jr High science class, you failed the 1st time.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday February 20 2019, @04:01PM (1 child)
I hope I can offer a little insight here. Pretty much every model of car is engineered for a certain type of travel, and performance. I have found vehicles, such as you describe, which use inordinate amounts of fuel, when traveling at highway speeds. There are many cars which DO NOT use excessive fuel at high speeds. Engineering is everything, here. If your engine is cranking at 12,000 RPM, you're getting shit for fuel economy, even if you're only going 35 mph. If your engine is idling around 3,000 to 4,000 RPM at 80, 100, or even more, then you might be getting some pretty good mileage. Get with the engineers, and find out what the car was designed for.
The point that the other AC is trying to make, is that a car uses fuel quicker at high speeds - but it also goes more miles in that same time. You use more fuel to generate those extra horsepower, but you need those horses for a shorter period of time, so you don't have to feed them so long. Take that back to how the car is engineered.
Yes, wind resistance is a factor, but no, wind resistance is as big a factor as some people think.
All I ask is, before you conclude that faster cars are using twice as much gas, you should check those cars out. I have a few anecdotes about vehicles getting BETTER fuel mileage at higher speeds, and many more that got nearly the same mileage. Since I don't buy slow vehicles, I don't have examples of vehicles whose mileage went to hell between 60 and 100.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 21 2019, @02:02PM
Gear ratio counts for the most part. Low RPM, less fuel used, although engines have optimal RPM range, but you know. Now that cars have 6-7 gears, even high speed driving can be driven in low RPM.
As a side note, i don't know what kind of cars you drive, but normally cars run at 1000-3000 RPM in regular traffic.