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Originally Posted by Flybyday
I'm a bit confused on the benefits of "gliding" versus regenerative de-accelleration. When I am driving down a hill, I let off the gas and let the car cruise. If I start to lose speed, I go into regenerative mode. And the mpg bar says I'm getting 99.9 mpg. But even if I am gliding in the pure sense discussed here, I still get 99.9 mpg. Is there some advantage to gliding without regeneration in terms of mpg, and if so, what is the benefit?
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The display only goes up to 99.9. Your actual instantaneous MPG goes much higher. Witness the guys who got 112MPG on a single tank of gas, last August, using the P&G technique.
When you're gliding, the only energy the car consumes is to power the electrical system. This means the computer, headlights, and whatever else. When you're coasting, you're doing much the same, except the regenerative brakes are engaged. You lose momentum, as the brakes regenerate energy.
Use the two techniques where appropriate, to maximize your MPG. If you see a red light ahead, coast into it. You're going to have to stop anyway, so you'd may as well regenerate energy with the brakes along the way. If you're in stop and go traffic, you can glide a lot, as you approach slow-moving traffic. If you're a hard-core hypermiler and want to maximize your MPG, you can pulse up to 40MPH, then glide back to 25 or 30
MPH.
Think of it this way; Gliding is free MPG. You get nearly infininite MPG. Regenerative braking is not free MPG. You're inefficiently converting kinetic energy to potential energy. It's better than pressing down on the accelerator but it's not free. Whenever possible, you want to glide, rather than coast.