• highduc@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    17
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    8 months ago

    Wdym? The faster a car moves (or anything, not just a car) the less efficient it’s gonna be, because it has to fight against more and more wind resistance.

    • Fermion@mander.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      40
      ·
      edit-2
      8 months ago

      They’re saying that at highway speeds the cars energy usage would be off the chart, or if they scaled the chart to that usage, everything else would be too small to discern the differences.

      You guys are in agreement.

    • SkyNTP@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      8 months ago

      The measure of productivity of transportation is distance traveled, not speed (unless this were some time race). Comparing kw/speed tells you nothing about the kWh used to make the same trip as alternative modes of transportation.

    • Tobberone@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      8 months ago

      In theory I agree, in practice other stuff, as the need for heating/cooling, really muddled the theory and puts the sweet spot speed way up. And if we turn the Aircon off, 150 is a really high number.

    • JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      8 months ago

      Wdym? The faster a car moves (or anything, not just a car) the less efficient it’s gonna be, because it has to fight against more and more wind resistance.

      That isn’t entirely true. At lower speeds there may be other inefficiencies that are worse than wind resistance (since wind resistance becomes negligible at low speeds).

      It will depend on the vehicle, but for example, small gasoline cars are more efficient at ~70 km/h than at lower speeds. Electric vehicles will likely be more efficient at lower speeds (~40 km/h) than gas vehicles, due to (lack of) gearing but there will still be low speeds where they are less efficient than higher speeds.

      https://www.researchgate.net/figure/ehicle-energy-economy-at-different-speeds_fig1_326822085