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Re:The Netherlands is making moves to ban all non-electric v... by Houshalter on Monday April 18, 2016 @11:48AM (#11520848)
Of course it depends on the design of the car, but 40 is an average.

>How does a number on a sign affect how much fuel I'm burning?

I never claimed that it would. I said "Driving at the speed limit will definitely save you more fuel than speeding.", which is definitely true. If you speed you are going faster and using more fuel.

Re:The Netherlands is making moves to ban all non-electric v... by vonmoltke on Monday April 18, 2016 @12:19PM (#11521061)
> I never claimed that it would. I said "Driving at the speed limit will definitely save you more fuel than speeding.", which is definitely true. If you speed you are going faster and using more fuel.

That statement has nothing to do with the speed limit, though. It may be trivially true, but adding the speed limit ties an irrelevant variable to it. Speed limit is a semi-arbitrary number that has nothing to do with how much fuel a car uses and how efficiently it uses it.

Re:The Netherlands is making moves to ban all non-electric v... by phpnode on Monday April 18, 2016 @01:09PM (#11521449)
The implication is that driving over the speed limit is likely, on average, to be less fuel efficient than obeying it. Due to the laws of human nature, very few people drive significantly below the speed limit, and very few people prioritise their fuel economy over everything else so this translates to a reasonable guideline.
Re:The Netherlands is making moves to ban all non-electric v... by tremon on Monday April 18, 2016 @04:06PM (#11522776)
The implication is that driving over the speed limit is likely, on average, to be less fuel efficient than obeying it.

Not necessarily, because of gear changes. Not all cars can use 5th gear in a 50km/h zone, so they'll drive in 4th gear. It seems likely that doing 60km/h in 5th gear is more efficient than 50km/h in 4th gear.

Re:The Netherlands is making moves to ban all non-electric v... by Alupis on Monday April 18, 2016 @01:32PM (#11521652)
> Of course it depends on the design of the car, but 40 is an average.

Funny, I had always heard 55 MPH was the "sweet spot".

Drag Coefficient will be dramatically different on all car models.

Driving slower can have as dramatic of an impact on MPG as driving too fast. Your engine has to work quite hard to keep the car moving in both cases. Once up to a cruising speed, your engine will have to work less hard (and burn less gas) to maintain momentum. This is why your foot is not on the accelerator pedal harder while cruising on the highway when compared to driving on the streets. This is also part of the reason overdrive gears work (<1:1 ratio).

From a dead-stop, you dump the most unburned hydrocarbons (as a bunch of fuel is dumped into the chamber suddenly). So, constant highway driving will be more efficient than a slower city-street driver.