[Quietcars] Cars that shut off and start back up.

[Robert Wilson]

Hi Mike,

You may be thinking of Ford's announcement that they are going to install "start/stop" systems in all of their new vehicles in the next year or so. This is a first for Ford which has been using hybrid technology similar to Toyota (and in fact both had cross-patent sharing agreements.)

This past decade, GM sold mostly "Mild Hybrids" which we called "belt assisted" hybrids with this start-stop technology. Sad to say, the fuel savings claims from "start/stop" were and remain inflated. The "start/stop" mechanism is that once the foot left the brake, it would start the engine. The vehicle would not move forward until the engine was running. Even so, the time frame was within the time it takes to remove the foot from the brake and move it over to the accelerator, several tenths of seconds or more.

>From a technical standpoint, these 'start/stop' system are typically in the 5 horsepower region and use a modified alternator that can run as a motor. They have been just strong enough to spin the engine but never strong enough to sustain speed in electric mode. All electrical power had to flow through the crank shaft, the GM approach.

The Honda hybrid builds the electric motor into the flywheel assembly, the Honda Integrated Motor Assist. There is enough electrical power that in some speed regions, the 15 horse power motor could both spin the engine and sustain speed. The real advantage came from the low-end torque that allowed a smaller Honda engine to perform more like one the next size up.

The "belt assisted" hybrids were always on large displacement engines and did not use the alternator-motor for any appreciable efficiency gains.

One aspect of the "start/stop" systems is the need for accessories such as the air conditioner compressor, power steering, and even power brakes to operate electrically. This will provide additional noise as many Prius owners have learned when running the air conditioner in the summer.

Bob Wilson

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> Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2010 18:15:50 -0500
> From: mrtownsend at optonline.net
> To: quietcars at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [Quietcars] Cars that shut off and start back up.
>
> This is something that I'd posted to a guide dog list of Seeing eye
> handlers, as someone had posted about the fact that some cars will join the
> quieter fleet, meaning that they will turn off and again restart once the
> accelerator pedal is pressed after being idle for a time., this is only my
> opinion, so if anyone has any concrete evidence of such or has other
> information that disputes anything I'm saying and can show me through
> evidence that our passed quiet car legislation will be enacted sooner,
> please share. This is not meant to bash any one organization or throw water
> on the quiet car fire, but to be truthful, in any and all ways regarding
> this issue.
>
> Mike T
>
> Jenn, this is apparently what is proposed, and the fact is that this
> legislation that was passed in the house that was begun primarily by the NFB
> and then the ACB which collaborated to lobby for it, will NOT be enacted for
> a couple of years, at the very least, and there isn't a thing that we can do
> to get it through beforehand.
>
> There is testing that needs to be done, a solution to which noises or noise
> a car or vehicle should make and where the noise emitted device or devices
> should be placed And an agreement that each car manufacturer has to come on
> board with is not yet set in stone. Scary, but true, and this legislation
> doesn't just apply to the blind for their safety, but to every consumer,
> whether the be sighted, mobile without any impairment, etc. Just something
> to think about.
>
> "I am accustomed to hearing malicious falsehoods about myself...but I think
> I have
> a right to resent, to object to, libelous statements about my dog."
> -Franklin D. Roosevelt
> Mike Townsend and Seeing Eye dog Brent
> Dunellen, New Jersey 08812
> emails: mrtownsend at optonline.net;
> michael.townsend54 at gmail.com
> Home Phone: 732 200-5643
> Cellular: 732 718-9480
>
>
>
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