55mph Club

[Jay64]

A quick back-of-the-envelope scribble tells me that gas would need to hit about $7/liter for me to break even if I parked the car during the week.

What do you spend money on for commuting that makes it that expensive to break even at $7/liter?

 

[vanilla ice]

I need to build a commuter motorcycle velo so I can blast to work at 80mph while getting 100mpg...

Mebbe looking something like this, yes?
http://www.ohgizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/acabion_gtbo.jpg

 

[Lowell]

A quick back-of-the-envelope scribble tells me that gas would need to hit about $7/liter for me to break even if I parked the car during the week.

What do you spend money on for commuting that makes it that expensive to break even at $7/liter?

$75/hr vs. time wasted commuting via slower means, vs. cost of driving my 1000cc econobox commuter car.

 

[kdpem]

Wow 55mph, When I was much younger as the embargo was just getting started, and the government proposed 55 as a national speed limit. My friends, all belonging to a car club decided to take a trip at 55 to see if it would make a difference. Because we wanted to take this trip at 55 we enjoyed the trip, and found we had saved gas so we decided we were for it.

Then the speed change was enforced and we changed our minds, mostly because if we didn't have the extra hour to take a trip, we would just have to cancel our trips. That saved more gas than the 55mph would have, but our joy was squelched even further. We found that over time, the truckers had to get more money per mile to cover the loss of time, we paid for it, for years.

Today we have another reason to consider the 55mph speed. This time it seems much greater to me than saving a few gallons of gas, today it is to save the planet for a few years. Now after introducing my past, I talk about today, the oxymoron I am about to expose, would be better considered, than dismissed as wasting fuel.

With a quick test I found my rigg gets 5mpg at 65mph, and a much better 7mpg at 55mph. My rigg of course is a Motor Home, considered a big gas hog by many, but that is not really the truth. But for this story I had to take a road trip one way of 1200 miles. I took the trip at you guessed it, 55mph. I would like to share my figures in making my choice as to speed to travel.

• at 65mph 240gallons, Miles traveled at 5mpg
  at 55mph 170gallons, Miles traveled at 7mpg
  69 gallons of fuel saved at 55 vs. 65 at $2.80 per gallon, this makes $193.20 dollars saved.
  at 55mph time spent on driving 21.8 hrs.
  at 65mph time spent on driving 18.46 hrs.
  extra time spent 3.4 hrs

If we consider cost of trip we might consider hourly rate of driver, to make a comparison we must consider what that 3.4 hours is worth in hourly cost. For this trip, that worth $193.20 in an hourly manner $56.75 per hour, I don't expect to make that per hour, so for me I saved a rate much greater than what I would expect to make had I worked for that time, even had it been at overtime rate.

 

[TylerDurden]

I too, just returned from a 1200mi trip (today). Actually a 2400 round-trip from Lake Erie to Lake Ponchartrain and back.

1200 miles on the return were towing a trailer and cargo: ~1500lbs. New Orleans is at sea-level, Lake Erie is about 600' above, with a few hills along the way.

At 55-60mph and 10mph side-wind, I averaged 21mpg.
At 50mph on the flats and 7mph tailwind I averaged 28mpg.

The veh is a 1.9L normally-aspirated VW diesel: 48.5hp, in a 5200lb camper.

I would love to put an aerodynamic tailbox on that big RV and see the effect.

 

[JRP3]

One more thing, while I'm at it. Not only is our present economy wholly dependent on oil, all of the progress we've made in the last 200 years would have been impossible without oil or its predecessor, coal. On the whole, fossil fuels have been a huge benefit for us, and we wouldn't have a large, healthy, mobile and educated population without them.

Actually, I see us as having an unhealthy, overweight, not that bright population reproducing at an ever increasing rate, using up more and more of our resources. Not to mention an economy based on cheap oil that may be on the verge of collapse. We've taken for granted the existence of cheap energy and we may not be able to compensate for the lack of it quickly enough to avoid and economic disaster. So yes, our current predicament would not have been possible without cheap fossil fuels, and that may be our downfall.
As for driving 55, I live 3 miles from work and almost never get up to 55mph during my 7 minute commute Sometimes I ride my bike, which takes me 9 minutes going to work, (downhill), and about 20 coming home I need to work on that Ebike.

 

[TylerDurden]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/climate_ships_dc

Slower boats to China as ship owners save fuel By Erik Kirschbaum
Sat Jan 19, 8:22 PM ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - Oil at more than $90 a barrel is concentrating minds in the shipping industry. Higher fuel costs and mounting pressure to curb emissions are leading modern merchant fleets to rediscover the ancient power of the sail.

The world's first commercial ship powered partly by a giant kite sets off on a maiden voyage from Bremen to Venezuela on Tuesday, in an experiment which inventor Stephan Wrage hopes can wipe 20 percent, or $1,600, from the ship's daily fuel bill.

"We aim to prove it pays to protect the environment," Wrage told Reuters. "Showing that ecology and economics are not contradictions motivates us all."

The 10,000-tonne 'MS Beluga SkySails' -- which will use a computer-guided kite to harness powerful ocean winds far above the surface and support the engine -- combines modern technology with know-how that has been in use for millennia.

But if Skysails is a relatively elaborate solution, another development shows the march of progress is not always linear: shipping companies seeking immediate answers to soaring fuel prices and the need to cut emissions are, simply, slowing down.

The world's 50,000 merchant ships, which carry 90 percent of traded goods from oil, gas, coal, and grains to electronic goods, emit 800 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. That's about 5 percent of the world's total.

Also, their fuel costs rose by as much as 70 percent last year.

That dramatic increase has ship owners clambering onto a bandwagon to reduce speed as a way to save fuel and cut the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, said Hermann Klein, an executive at Germanischer Lloyd classification society.

"The number of shipping lines reducing speed to cut fuel costs has been growing steadily," Klein, whose organization runs safety surveys on more than 6,000 ships worldwide, told Reuters.

"Slowing down by 10 percent can lead to a 25 percent reduction in fuel use. Just last week a big Japanese container liner gave notice of its intention to slow down," he added.

Shipping was excluded from the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol to slow climate change, and many nations want the industry to be made accountable for its impact on the climate in the successor to Kyoto, which runs to 2012.

GO-SLOW

In Hamburg, the Hapag-Lloyd shipping company is not waiting for 2012. It reacted to rising fuel prices by cutting the throttle on its 140 container ships traveling the world's oceans, ordering its captains to slow down.

The company in the second half of last year reduced the standard speed of its ships to 20 knots from 23-1/2 knots, and said it saved a "substantial amount" of fuel.

The calculation used in shipping is complex: longer voyages mean extra operating costs, charter costs, interest costs and other monetary losses. But Hapag-Lloyd said slowing down still paid off handsomely.

"We've saved so much fuel that we added a ship to the route and still saved costs," said Klaus Heims, press spokesman at the world's fifth-largest container shipping line. "Why didn't we do this before?"

Climate change was an additional motivating factor.

"It had the added effect of cutting carbon dioxide emissions immediately," Heims said. "Before, ships would speed up to 25 knots from the standard 23-1/2 to make up if time was lost in crowded ports. We calculated that 5 knots slower saves up to 50 percent in fuel."

Slowing down has not involved a decrease in capacity for the company. For container ships carrying mainly consumer goods from Hamburg to ports in the Far East, the round-trip at 20 knots now takes 63 days instead of 56, but to make up for this it added a vessel to the route to bring the total to nine.

Hapag-Lloyd board member Adolf Adrion told a news conference in London on January 10 speeds are now being cut further, to 16 knots from 20, for journeys across the Atlantic: "It makes sense environmentally and economically," he said.

The world's largest container shipping operator, Danish group A.P. Moller-Maersk, is also going slower to cut emissions -- although Eivind Kolding, chief executive of the group's container arm, told the January event this would mean a delay to clients of 1-1/2 days. He added he believed that was a price customers were willing to pay for the sake of the environment.

"We reduce speeds where it makes sense," said Thomas Grondorf, Moller-Maersk spokesman in Copenhagen. "It entails careful planning and is only appropriate on certain routes."

FERRIES TOO

Not only are giant ocean-going vessels slowing down, the trend is also catching on among ferry services.

Norway's Color Line ferry between Oslo and Baltic destinations said in early January it would add 30 minutes to the 20-hour trip from Oslo to Kiel: "It's good for the environment and it's good for us economically," said Color Line spokesman Helge Otto Mathisen in Oslo.

Color Line CEO Manfred Jansen has said the company will save 1.4 million liters of fuel per year by sailing slower.

But if fuel prices keep rising, innovations like the kite powered 'Beluga SkySails' could also pay off. German-based Beluga Shipping has already ordered two more vessels and Wrage's company has a total of five orders in hand.

If the maiden voyage is a success, inventor and chief executive Wrage hopes to double the size of its kites to 320 square meters, and expand them again to 600 square meters in 2009. The company hopes to fit 1,500 ships by 2015.

At Germanischer Lloyd, Klein said the classification body has urged ship owners to explore other simple ways to save fuel, including using weather forecasts to pick optimum routes for vessel performance, regularly cleaning their vessels' hull and propeller to remove sediments that cause resistance, and using fuel additives to improve combustion efficiency.

"'Ship efficiency' is of paramount importance considering a fuel bill for a big container ship over a 25-year lifespan adds up to nearly $900 million," he said.

He also saw scope for designers to create slower speed engines with better fuel efficiency rather than just having ship owners operate fast-propulsion engines at reduced speeds.

 

[vanilla ice]

I think I heard a blurb about this on the radio this morning. I didn't know what the hell they were talking about. I assumed it was some sort of vertical wing. Hope it works well and they get the bigger stuff going.

 

[RevDon]

I too, just returned from a 1200mi trip (today). Actually a 2400 round-trip from Lake Erie to Lake Ponchartrain and back.

1200 miles on the return were towing a trailer and cargo: ~1500lbs. New Orleans is at sea-level, Lake Erie is about 600' above, with a few hills along the way.

At 55-60mph and 10mph side-wind, I averaged 21mpg.
At 50mph on the flats and 7mph tailwind I averaged 28mpg.

The veh is a 1.9L normally-aspirated VW diesel: 48.5hp, in a 5200lb camper.

I would love to put an aerodynamic tailbox on that big RV and see the effect.

So, T.D. what were you doing in MY neighborhood
I just finished moving from the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain to the south shore. It's a great lake for fishing- Redfish, Speckled Trout, Flounder, even Sharks! It's a brackish lake, in as it connects to the Gulf of Mexico through the Rigolets. We even get the occasional Manatee Anyway, it's my favourite local playground, and I'm putting together an electric pontoon boat that used to be pedal driven
Should you get down this way again, give me a shout. They just released the lineup for Jazz Fest: http://www.nojazzfest.com/ and it's another doozy

If there are any music lovers out there, check out this forum http://www.nojazzfest.com/chat/ Watch out, it's as addictive as this one-you've been warned

Don

 

[TylerDurden]

I picked up another toy (as if I don't have too many already):
View attachment commutacar-sm.JPG

The JazzFest lineup looks great. It'd be a blast seeing any of those folks live, esp in a partytown like NO.

 

[Dee Jay]

Damn, TD you're gonna have to beat de wemens away with a stick riding around in that heap :wink:

anyway, yeah big-up to some quality jazz woo woo!

 

[TylerDurden]

Damn, TD you're gonna have to beat de wemens away with a stick riding around in that heap :wink:

Not as slick as a Giant Revive, but chicks at the art school dig it.

8)

 

[Toorbough ULL-Zeveigh]

Born to be mild.

Nice color scheme, same as my wedgy car.
I wonder, is the spider-web in the windshield an expression of someone's opinion?
Flat plate, cheap to replace anyways.

Should be great, lo maintenance cost, keeps the rain off yer hed, sexy faux NACA duct, what more could you want?
Luv to know what sort of performance you get when running with a lightweight lithium pack.

ah-OOO-gaa!

 

[TylerDurden]

Luv to know what sort of performance you get when running with a lightweight lithium pack.

Likewise.

8)

 

[Dee Jay]

Well yeah art students had always been taught to think outside of the box . . . so riding inside a box can be kind of "retro"-anti fashion-hip to be square-rebellion against good taste or what have you... I can somewhat relate. I think. WIll you keep the vaguely-cool racing stripes and the short-schoolbus-yellow?

I wonder, is the spider-web in the windshield an expression of someone's opinion?

It must've really rattled someone's cage, he he! Nice shot though *pat myself on the back*. TD will need shatter proof glass with a hole for cattle prod.

 

[Drunkskunk]

That Yellow one looks Exactly like the one my friend had. Infact, as few of these as there are...... Any chance that thing has a CB antena on it? or was ever registered in Texas?

 

[TylerDurden]

The car was abandoned at a rental property, so the property-owner assumed possession. Of course, there are no papers with the car.

It appears to have been owned by a broadcast engineer or such... it had a custom speed-charger port installed (Mil connector), metering for each battery; and yes... not one, but three CB antenne.

The inspection sticker says 1991.

I was planning a full restoration for the car, since all the body panels and frame were perfect... until the wreck:
View attachment IMG_3180sm.JPG
View attachment IMG_3182_sm.jpg

Some kid from Tupelo was yappin and not paying attention... while driving 80mph. He hit my trailer dead-nuts square. I was towing at 45mph with my flashers on for courtesy.

View attachment IMG_3187sm.JPG
View attachment 4

He smashed into the rear of the commutacar, crushing the batterybox, breaking the leafsprings and breaking the motormounts. The commutacar smashed-in the hatch on the van before his car dragged it off into I-55:

 

[fechter]

That sucks!

Make his insurance company buy you a Tesla roadster since the Commutacar parts are no longer available.

 

[TylerDurden]

I had just finished building the trailer too. (Lightweight tandems are not common or cheap.)

The commutacar has light body damage, moderate frame damage and significant drivetrain damage. It is still restorable, but the body now has cracks to be repaired. It had the potential for Henry Ford Museum before the wreck. :?

The settlement for the commutacar is pending, since nobody will repair ABS and the aluminum frame would cost plenty to fix. More on that later in the week, I guess.

 

[Dee Jay]

Tyler!

I thought you were kidding about restoring this vehicle. I didn't mean to diss your ride-n-joy. I hope my comments didn't jinx you. Chin up, old chap, try to look at this as god's way of talking you out of this project. :wink: Seriously, I hope you find another one in mint condish!

J

 

[Lowell]

Is insurance covering you 100%?

 

[TylerDurden]

No worries... nobody could take something that fugly too seriously. :lol:

Kidding aside, it was in really, really good shape cosmetically and electrics were also very restorable. There is still hope for this one. (Mint-condition Vanguards are beyond scarce and rather expensive.)

The insurance is slow to process, as the information superhighway has not reached all law enforcement and government entities in "the south". Also "puzzling" is the fact that the other driver received no citations.

I will keep my fingers crossed for luck until I see a check clear.

:?

 

[fechter]

The insurance is slow to process, as the information superhighway has not reached all law enforcement and government entities in "the south". Also "puzzling" is the fact that the other driver received no citations.
...

Perhaps there is no law against rear-ending an EV.

 

[TylerDurden]

Perhaps there is no law against rear-ending an EV.

My favorite joke about the performance of the Citicar:

"You pull out of your driveway and floor it.... and you get run over by a VW bug."

 

[Lowell]

No worries... nobody could take something that fugly too seriously. :lol:

Kidding aside, it was in really, really good shape cosmetically and electrics were also very restorable. There is still hope for this one. (Mint-condition Vanguards are beyond scarce and rather expensive.)

The insurance is slow to process, as the information superhighway has not reached all law enforcement and government entities in "the south". Also "puzzling" is the fact that the other driver received no citations.

I will keep my fingers crossed for luck until I see a check clear.

:?

The driver should be cited for driving a Pontiac land yacht...

If I recall correctly, that boat takes over 250ft to stop from 80mph.