new hybrid driving technique

My sister has a very interesting driving technique-- she steps on the
gas for a few seconds (3-5s) and then completely lets off the gas for
a few seconds (3-5s). She never uses steady pressure... ever. So
basically, the car is ALWAYS either accelerating or decelerating. It
is highly annoying if you are the passenger, but interestingly enough
she gets about 46 MPG in her 06 HCH - which is very good for Chicago
given our extreme weather and terrible traffic patterns. I am very
careful with my 06 HAH and use the trip computer to guide how I drive.
I try to not accelerate too quickly, and I am very steady. I get about
30-32 MPG in Chicago. The other day, she borrowed my HAH, and I was
VERY surprised to see that she returned it to me with better mileage
that I had. She used it for local trips, and I am sure used her usual
always accelerating or decelerating. It is not really "pulse and
glide" -- she does the "pulse" but there is no glide. Also, her
variation in speed is small - maybe 5-8 miles per hour as opposed to
the typical 10+ of "pulse and glide." Does this make sense to anyone?
Why wouldn't her constant stepping on the gas ruin the mileage? Any
ideas?

john
http://www.zone-car.com

 

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First thing that comes to mind: Her method would certainly cut down on
JACKASS TAILGATERS, wouldn't it?

'Curly'

 

Sounds like "pulse and glide" which gets very good mileage in any vehicle,
and the hybrids that can run EV-only get tremendous mileage.

It certainly is... for the passenger, and anyone nearby.

I get 46 driving sensibly in an 03 HCH. I don't deal much with city
traffic, but there are no roads that are flat or straight around here.

Which is terrible? The 06 HCH might be operating EV-only in heavy traffic.
It shouldn't be cold enough yet to affect the engine run time (41F in my
2003). My mileage hit comes from the AC, either in summer, or in winter
with the defroster on.

The HAH that's been discontinued?

sure it is.

The hybrid forums are full of pulse and glide advocates. There are a few
on the Ford Escape Hybrid forum with over 40mpg lifetime averages,
including more than one near Denver, where the weather, traffic, and
terrain are sub par.

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/hybrid_ford_escape/

 

A Google search turns up several interesting articles, including this
one -

http://www.toyota.com/html/hybridsynergyview/2005/fall/marathon.html

And frankly I think you are just trolling, as in THIS post it was your
wife who drove this way, not your sister, unless they are one and the
same (apologies to those who live in Kentucky) -

http://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/f27/new-hybrid-driving-technique-15147/

Dan D
'07 Ody EX
Central NJ USA

 

zone-car.com is a spam link - notice all those "everything you ever
wanted to know about car a/c" posts that come up on a weekly basis also
link to this site. "John" is a spammer trying to get you to his site.

 

Forget it, Jake... It's Chinatown

 

I'd hate to follow her, in fact I'd pass her very quickly.