The Pensieve

Honda recently offered a slash in their new Civic Hybrid model. Though not all are sure if it was a publicity move or an inventory clearing sale, I believe with good mileage figures and a growing concern on how green everyone should be, hybrid cars will see an increase in prominence in the Indian roads. The Indian market is price sensitive. Be it an industrialist who is buying a Rolls Royce or a car enthusiast pining for a BMW, the inevitable question remains: "What is the mileage?". This has led to a slew of Diesel cars in the market . Though economic to us, it still fails against the 'green' parameter. The other competitor to hybrids are the all-electric vehicles which may be termed greener (assuming that the cost of production, battery is far less harmful than the actual emissions), they lack in range, ability to quickly recharge (which seems to be a 5 minute affair for it's counterparts) and the lack of accessible recharge locations (do you think at the curren...

MaxMileage Been some time since I've posted. Had been busy reading the final volume of the Harry Potter series which I managed to acquire on the day of the release at the Central Railway station. Putting things aside, I had also managed to learn a little bit of DotNet programming and created a simple project @ SourceForge. With my interest in fuel economy, I had created a simple application to keep track of your progress and view the data as charts. It's not a complete application yet! I know a few hundred similar apps exists, but this I felt was more apt for my needs and I get a chance to program too.

Hypermilers... One of my earlier post glanced upon the techniques to achieve better fuel economy while driving. And I chanced to stumble upon an article that has expert advise and a group obsessed with saving fuel. Some of their techniques match mine, but most seems specific to highway driving and/or driving a hybrid. But with a little effort, these can be applied to city-driving too and you may be able to reap some benefits while driving through the traffic laden routes at Chennai! A point to note: Safety comes first, fuel economy next. In the mean time, I am trying to layout a traffic simulation application, where you can try out different kinds on signals (the regular contdown style, more intelligent ones that can sense the traffic buildup) and to find the right timing and location to ensure your car / bike keeps running. Will post the architecture / design of this system when it is done...

Paradigm shift while driving... While the preference for most while going for a car is towards performance and economy, most stop after their purchase and do not follow up in honing their skills to practice safe and economical driving... Most reviews of automobiles state the raw power and how fast the vehicle can go. Granted, a speed of 175+kmph is high for Indian roads, I do not see anyone doing this during their normal day-to-day ride which would represent more than 98% of us, commuters. The recent Ford Fiesta Max Marathon drive had helped in changing the way people drive their cars. This is a different race, not focused on speed and time, but on economy and mileage. A few do's and dont's that worked out for me: Plan to use the brakes less . Fuel is spent in keeping the vehicle running. Brakes reduces the efficiency by introducing friction and thus limiting the speed. Which means that you start planning ahead to avoid the brake. You then tend to leave ample space betw...