Recent content by poiney

IIUC, you're simply arguing that in the limit of no frictional losses, that it takes no energy at constant speed, so this gives the best efficiency. Of course, it is less efficient to accelerate than cruise at constant speed. But it is also more efficient to coast than to cruise at constant...

Maybe you are assuming that this car has a regular transmission? I assumed that engine has a CVT so it remains at optimum RPM and gearing as it accelerates, so to first order, I don't think that we need to worry that the car is not "tuned" at optimum RPM (although maybe you are referring to...

Thanks. I'm viewing this from energy conservation only. At constant speed, since the car still needs fuel to overcome losses, I don't think that the inertia argument applies.

Let's assume we have a generic, standard design ICE car, except that transmission is CVT (continously variable) and can be popped into neutral, since this simplifies the problem. Assume car travels in a hypothetically-empty freeway at any speed and also assume that driver is optimizing fuel...

This is a good/correct explanation. I think that the problem with this discussion is that different folks makes different assumptions w/o being explicit in their assumptions. People get confused by trying to solve this with torque, which is difficult. If we assume that Horsepower is constant...