best RPMs when accelerating
 

Hey guys, Just bought a 07 HCH two months ago. Still has only about 500 miles on it. At ~43 mpg I am still learning. What I would like to know in order to increase FE is what is the best RPMs when accelerating from say 0-60. Should i keep it at ~2000 or is it better to accelerate faster and keep it between 3 and 3.5k.

Thanks.

Re: best RPMs when accelerating
 

I ignore my RPMs and just accelerate as gradually as I can stand.

It must work; my lifetime average is 63.3 MPG.

Re: best RPMs when accelerating
 

Kenny, me too I have a lot a question and doubt about the acceleration. Could you describe more what you do to get this 63.

The only thing I can tell you nark, Higher than 2000rpm is only for "emergencies". For the moment with my only 4000KM of experience, I prefer make a good pulse at 2000rpm and then glide as far as possible. But Kenny will give us all his secrets:angel: , pleeeaaaassse Kenny ??

Also if you could make differences between behavior with cold and hot engin, that would be apperciated.

PM

Re: best RPMs when accelerating
 

There are two schools of thought:

1- Accellerate slowly preferably keeping rpms's at their lowest. Avoiding assist often figures into this approach too. I actually do this whenever there's no traffic behind me.

2- Accellerate briskly to your target speed. This may involve taking the rpms to 2500 or even 3500. If prefer this whenever there's traffic behind me and none in front. This allows me to reach a "target speed"+10 and then I have a chance to P&G a little to make up for the initial take-off loss.

I would say that instead of using one exclusively we instead using whichever is most appropriate for the conditions.

Cheers;

MSantos

Re: best RPMs when accelerating
 

I think 95% of my MPG is from:
Very slow acceleration

53 MPH top speed (actually recently I've kept it at 50)

Leave a TON of room in front of the car so I never have to brake (actually drive as if your brakes have failed)
I expect my brakes will never need replacement; I almost never use them.

Discover the coasting rate of your car. (Imagine popping a manual transmission into neutral)
Use that rate to slow down without activating any of the green charge lights.

Using regen only recovers 30% of the moving car's kinetic energy.
This means 70% is wasted (regular cars waste 100% when you use their brakes)
To waste 0% don't use gas, in the first place, to get up to a speed that you have to slow down from.
This may mean finding less-traveled roads or changing lanes to let cars pass.

Live near the beach in Southern California where there are no hills and you don't need heat or air conditioning.

Yeah I do lots of other stuff you'll read about here.
But I think that's most of it.

I don't lean burn.
I don't pulse and glide.
I don't drive with the load. (no big hills in my commute, but I do let speed drop going up a bridge)
I pay no attention to the tachometer.

Sorry, I know many of you swear by that stuff.
Maybe I could top 63.3 if I did too, but it doesn't seem worth the trouble.

Oh and I do not do anything different with a cold or warm engine.

A very important thing is your attitude.
You have to not care that people want you to speed up.
I'm in the right-most of 4 to 6 lanes.
Screw em!

Next I got a customized license plate with a phrase that instantly communicates that I am NOT going to speed up.
The day I got this 90% of the tailgaiting stopped.
They realize I am going slowly on purpose and there is no hope of getting me to speed up, so they quickly pass me up.
Before I got the plates they assume I was on the phone, reading, eating spacing out - so they'd honk and tailgate to try to wake me up.

May I suggest these plates:
GOINSLO
GO SLOW
NOHURRY
NO RUSH
RELAXN
RELAXIN
RELAXNG
PASS ME
SLOLANE

Re: best RPMs when accelerating
 

Any suggestions on improving FE in city settings?. I get 55-62mpg on hwy but am lucky to get 45mpg in town.

Re: best RPMs when accelerating
 

For acceleration, I think slowly, under or at 2k is best. That way you don't destroy your battery's soc. I try to not use any bars of assist (which is nearly impossible if your soc is good) but usually wind up using 2 or so. I'm satisfied with that.

As for city driving, I think kenny said it best...Go slow and pay attention to what's going on in front of you. Work the lights, coast as much as possible, and try to drive as if you had no brakes. Oh, and try not to flip anybody the bird....;)

jco

Re: best RPMs when accelerating
 

I will add.

I make a little difference between the level of acceleration with cold and hot engin.

When the engin is cold I make the as slow as possible acceleration, knowing that there is no major benefit to get from the following glide, the ICE will never stop.

When the engin is hot, well, I'am experiencing but it seams that a faster acceleration (2500rpm) generates a better benefit (ratio pulse vs glide seams better). I try to glide without assis/regen, maybe with one line of assist depending of what is coming. My behavior could be different if my usual route would be different.

Pierre

Re: best RPMs when accelerating
 

Forget it, Rick. If you're getting 55-62 on the highway and 45 driving around the NYC area, I'd say you're probably doing about as good as is possible. All of that traffic and lights will probably keep you from performing better. You can use Kenny's suggestions, and they are good, but it's hard to stay in the right lane and not get run over on surface streets, especially as busy as it is where you live. Unless I'm missing something.