Tolerance of Hybrid Drivers

[mwr]

I think that proper pulse and glide driving (like anything, as long is it is done in a reasonable manner) benefits the traffic flow. In Traffic by Tom Vanderbilt, which is a fascinating book about peoples' driving habits there is much discussion about the fact that, while in traffic, acceleration then rapid deceleration sends ripples backwards, which has an overall slowing effect to the flow of traffic. Here is a good explanation I found of the best driving habits to manage the most efficient traffic flow:

 

Cars have brakes that are much more powerful than their engine, and will diminish speed fives times faster than it can build it up again. Therefore, once traffic becomes stuck and stands still, the traffic would take five times more than it was standing still to return to the same free flow speed before the traffic jam. If all drivers tried to drive like you (and me) by crawling along steadily through the jam, they would dissolve the jam.

In practice, people are in a hurry and are afraid that another driver will take up the space in front, so they immediately accelerate, only to brake not 50 meters later. This makes the jam move in "waves" that run against the direction of traffic and this costs in gas consumption, rear-end "fender-bender" collisions and a lot of nerves and wasted time.

 

Instead, follow these guidelines:

 

1. Maintain a safe following distance while driving (at least two full seconds)

2. Drive at the speed of traffic and keep right

3. Look far ahead and anticipate the need to slow down in advance

4. Slow down early and gently and try to avoid stopping completly

5. In the jam, maintain the gap and accelerate gently to keep on moving steadily through the jam.

 

This description is inadvertently describing pulse and glide (with the exception of #5 - the acceleration should be somewhat brisk up to the coasting speed). The best driving habits for maximizing fuel economy in a hybrid parallel the best driving habits for maximizing traffic efficiency for all the cars on the road.

I see no good reason to "pulse and glide" if the traffic is moving at a constant speed, as it often does on freeways (at least in each lane). All pulse and glide would do in that situation is irritate drivers behind you.

[MrMikeL]

If I can add one more thing to the list of "types of drivers I hate", how about the ones that don't use cruise control on the open road? You have your CC on, you pass someone, and a few miles later, they are passing you, only to slow down again so you have to pass them, agan. All the while maintaining the same speed via cruise control that you set miles ago. GRRRRR! Hate those bastards!

[mwr]

If I can add one more thing to the list of "types of drivers I hate", how about the ones that don't use cruise control on the open road? You have your CC on, you pass someone, and a few miles later, they are passing you, only to slow down again so you have to pass them, agan. All the while maintaining the same speed via cruise control that you set miles ago. GRRRRR! Hate those bastards!

Couldn't agree more. We have lots of hills here so I see many speed variations on other cars; I always assume they don't have CC on.

[talmy]

Couldn't agree more. We have lots of hills here so I see many speed variations on other cars; I always assume they don't have CC on.

 

 

Always possible they don't have cruise control in the first place.

[Barsoom]

Some thoughts about this topic:

 

1. Most of the posts are from 2009, before Ford changed the top speed for EV. Back then the top speed was 45 mph, so I could see frustrating situations arising when hybrid drivers go too slow for the roads. Starting with the 2013 redesign, the top speed for EV was increased to 60 mph, and a later reprogramming moved it to 75 mph. We can go a lot faster now and still hyper-mile or pulse and glide.

 

2. For me, I like to get up to driving speed and then set the adaptive cruise control to maintain the speed in EV. I find that the computer knows what the exact minimum force is to maintain my set speed. Since I now live in Houston where the roads are fairly flat, I can see the blue bar rise and fall with the slight contours in the roads. Mostly, only minimum force is necessary to sustain my speed. When I drain the HVB, I wait for the HVB to charge back to 50% and then re-engage the cruise control.

 

3. If there is a behavior of mine that might annoy followers, it is that I have the ECO setting turned on. This results in the car more slowly accelerating to speed if the car in front of me has to slow down for some reason, or if the computer becomes confused if the car in front moves into a turn lane and begins to brake. Sometimes I will override the cruise control and step on the gas to quickly get back to speed.