I use Mj/km as an indicator. I can compare by cars and electric bike
using joules.
Gasoline has a certain amount of energy per liter associated with it and
a controller on an electric car can be configured to measure Mj/km or
converted from W·h/km.
J. Ward wrote:
Perhaps newtons could be useful for energy consumption of
automobiles. It would be a way to compare vehicles with different
technologies, such as gasoline, diesel, electric, hydrogen, etc. I've
seen _electric_ vehicles advertised with their "efficiency" expressed
in miles per gallon. I assume this is calculated by considering the
chemical potential energy of gasoline if burned in oxygen. It seems
sad to start with a motor whose mechanical and electrical powers are
measured in kilowatts, with batteries supplying electricity measured
in amperes and volts, and then to bastardize these standard units into
units of equivalent gallons of gasoline. The results are also
misleading since the efficiency of the power generation were not taken
into account, e.g., how much coal was used to drive a certain
distance? Anyway, I would prefer to use newtons over generically
measuring energy in units of gallons of gasoline. Reminiscent of the
dreaded BOE....
J.
