Re: Fuel economy of Xplorers

[mauried@tpg.com.au (Maurie Daly)]

On Sun, 19 Nov 2000 00:39:25 +1100, "Alex Pout"
<alpout@optusnet.com.au> wrote:

>I've just had a look at Countrylink's website, they reckon a 1700 litre tank
>will give an Explorer a 16 000 km range.  Working this out, that comes to
>10.625 litres/100km, or 9.4km/litre.  Now, my car (a 97 Barina) just managed
>to get about 550km off a 40 litre tank, ie 7.27 litres/100km or
>13.75km/litre.  Is Countrylink's claim realistic, or has someone missed a
>decimal point?
>
>
>At first I thought, someone's missed a decimal point, but after thinking
>about it for a while (does it help/hinder if I confess to becoming a
>mechanical engineer, and done a bit of study on engines?) I thought maybe it
>is realistic.  Of course, given time and enough motivation, then I'd do a
>basic thermodynamic study (ie train moving at Xkm/h has so much kinetic
>energy, engine/drivetrain efficiency probably somewhere around 25-28%, Y
>MJ/tonne of diesel etc), but can someone give me a faster answer?


I dug up the fuel consumption figures for Explorers.
Notch	Consumption.L/h	Engine OP.(HP)	Traction OP(HP)
 0    	11  			 30   		 0

 1   	 34			102   		69

 2   	60 			196  		160

 3   	101 			335  		294

 4  	 135			474  		427


Running at 140 km./h on flat track needs around 3 -4HP/tonne,more for
going up hills or going into headwinds.
An explorer railcar weighs approx 60 tonnes or more depending on how
the car set is made up.
With a 1700 litre tank and flat running a single Xplorer car should be
able to get about around 2000 kms, ie all the way from Adelaide to
Kalgoorlie on a single tank
Maybe its time for a fan trip to do the above.

The calorific value of 1 litre of diesel fuel is 38 Mj,so based on
what one thinks is the average engine / drive efficiency ,you can
roughly work out fuel consumption based on HP.


MD