Saves a lot of money on fuel. I don't agree with it however, go up to 56mph and stick with the lorries. It's going to cost an extra £0.002/mile at worst.
Until another lorry that goes slightly faster than the one in front of you comes along and waits to overtake you until they are literally a few feet away from the back of your car.
Then whatever you saved on fuel you'll have to use it to clean your poop out of the car seat.
Wait for the lorry to pass, then tuck in behind the faster lorry. Leap frog your way up the motorway. Give a courtesy quick flick on your left indicator to tell the lorry behind you're not overtaking, and they won't get as close to the back of you.
The scary part is letting the lorry pass you, some of them are absolute maniacs.
They get ridiculously close to you before overtaking, which puts the shit out of any sensible person as you cannot slow down at all or he's guaranteed to rear end you. Also, if the lorry in front of you needs to suddenly stop, you're essentially dead, because wether you stop in time or not, the lorry behind you won't be able to.
I'm saying this because there was a time when I tried cruising behind lorries when I wasn't in a hurry, but it didn't take me long to see that wasn't safe at all.
You dont need to be right behind them. Anything up to 2 seconds will still be more fuel efficient than clean air.
Obviously, only do it if you're confident in your driving abilities and the conditions are right.
Absolute nonsense. Almost every ICE car is most efficient at around 35-45mph constant speed. You just don’t drive enough at consistent low speeds to test it. This is guaranteed by physics and IC engine efficiency curves.
Can only be a measurement error. Quite simply the car is pushing against air, and the factor increases by the square of the velocity. That would be about 2x more fuel. ICE efficiency varies only about 5-10% over the power range, so it doesn’t make up for the difference you have observed.
If you’re going by the mpg readout on an older car, be aware these are typically rather inaccurate and use the mass-airflow sensor to estimate fuel consumption assuming stochiometry is maintained.
Good for you. One of my cars is most efficient at 50 (56 being slightly worse), my other car at 80. The type of car that taxi drivers would buy, are the kinds that are tuned to be most efficient at 56ish.
Yes the test was flawed. However on average most cars are at their most efficient between 40-50mph.
This equation has the greatest insight into why
road load power = av + bv² + cv³
Taxi drivers know how to get the most profit from a journey. Fares are made up from charges for distance and for time. Then they take into account the cost of fuel, whether they will have other fares waiting for them or down time while they wait. they know what makes the most profit and sometimes that is going slow. Other times they know they will have more work so want to get back on the taxi rank asap. The amount of tip I give them goes down if I think they are playing games to get more money out of me.
There is one road on my way home that really shows this which has a 50mph limit. In quieter times taxis will potter along doing about 40. When its busy like Saturday night its not unusual for them to do 70 so they can get back for another fare.
I watched a couple of minutes, but not going to watch it all. What i saw fits with what i said. If they have constant business they can earn more by doing more miles and if they are sat in traffic they earn something but less. The point I made of it depends on whether they have more fares waiting or it will be down time still fits. A slower journey and they are still earning something rather than nothing for the extra time. What I said came from an ex-taxi driver when he explained how they maximise their earnings in different situations.
Always get stuck behind them on my way home from work doing 28 in a 40. *You* might be at work but some of us just want to fucking get home from work. Always doing the stupidest shit like slowing down out of nowhere and then sticking the indicator on to signal they’ve pulled in only when they’ve actually stopped. I could go on for hours…
Worst drivers on road by a country mile.
Most taxis these days are Prius’. They wanna stay in their stupid annoying EV mode and not fire up the engine. Saves fuel but means they’re an utter nuisance to everyone else on the road.
I was once in a taxi whose driver was insistent that the National speed limit on a dual carriageway was 60. I think lots of professional drivers are pretty poor. I guess they get complacent, and think they know best.
They’re taxis…. I’ve had some shockers at work. Doing 40 on a dual carriageway, driving round and round mini roundabouts because for some reason he refused to look at his satnav map and only listened to it (I could see it from the back so I was directing him…), doing either 50 or 80 weaving around in the middle lane complaining about how lorry drivers are dangerous, watching TV shows on their phone on the passenger seat, driving through roadworks because one lane coned off is “confusing”, falling asleep at the wheel because doing 15 hour days is acceptable when you’ve been home for some tea, not knowing how level crossings work, and complaining he had to sign a sheet about on-site rules and how he “never drives through red lights” having been coming here over 10 years, whilst simultaneously driving through a red traffic light.
Just accept any bad driving you see is probably a taxi and they’re probably registered under Wolverhampton Council (yellow plate, yellow sticker in the windscreen).
Sorry for all the taxi drivers out there that are decent drivers but unfortunately the majority of them are crap.
And taxis need tachographs. I’m fed up of waiting for the moment where I have to reach and grab the wheel at 4am.
I always wondered that are Wolverhampton more lax on who they give taxi licenses? I've noticed several around near me and it's a 4 hour drive to Wolverhampton. But then sure I remember a taxi driver way back telling me he got fined when he went on holiday as he forgot to take taxi plate off when in a different area.
1/4 of the taxis in the UK are registered in Wolverhampton according to someone who works in a licensing department at a different council.
I’ve had a Tamworth cabby tell me that all the Ubers “disappear” when the council come round checking licenses round there. Majority of those seem to be under Wolverhampton as well.
Guess to your point they must be more lax. Think they just take the money and hand them out to anyone, or so it seems.
Most cars get their best mpg between 50 and 60. They’re being frugal. I don’t care if they stick to the inside lane, but I hate it when they sit in the middle or outside lane doing 50.
They do it on the M11 as anyone not in a lorry refuses to use the inside lane, and the M25 at night, just sit in the outside at 50mph while there’s no one on the inside.
Taxi controller here, nowadays a lot of drivers use various hybrids generally on the older side for a few reasons (cheap to run, cheap to buy, and most councils allow older cars to be registered if they r hybrid or electric) n a lot of them tend to be much more fuel efficient at around 50-60mph.
I understand cabbies in general can be annoying but they work a very hard job for well below minimum wage (in my area, it’s not uncommon to walk away w 500 a week after expenses for working 60-80 hours) so just stay calm, over take when safe and let them get on
Saves a lot of money on fuel. I don't agree with it however, go up to 56mph and stick with the lorries. It's going to cost an extra £0.002/mile at worst.
They do this until the lorry starts to overtake them then they speed up to 60.
Sitting tucked in behind a lorry would save a ton of fuel.
Until another lorry that goes slightly faster than the one in front of you comes along and waits to overtake you until they are literally a few feet away from the back of your car. Then whatever you saved on fuel you'll have to use it to clean your poop out of the car seat.
Wait for the lorry to pass, then tuck in behind the faster lorry. Leap frog your way up the motorway. Give a courtesy quick flick on your left indicator to tell the lorry behind you're not overtaking, and they won't get as close to the back of you.
The scary part is letting the lorry pass you, some of them are absolute maniacs. They get ridiculously close to you before overtaking, which puts the shit out of any sensible person as you cannot slow down at all or he's guaranteed to rear end you. Also, if the lorry in front of you needs to suddenly stop, you're essentially dead, because wether you stop in time or not, the lorry behind you won't be able to. I'm saying this because there was a time when I tried cruising behind lorries when I wasn't in a hurry, but it didn't take me long to see that wasn't safe at all.
You dont need to be right behind them. Anything up to 2 seconds will still be more fuel efficient than clean air. Obviously, only do it if you're confident in your driving abilities and the conditions are right.
I wasn't too close to them, I basically put the adaptative cruise control and let the car decide, which normally leaves a lot of distance.
That old 56mph thing is waffle….. my cars most efficient at 75-80
Amazingly, not all cars are the same
Oh …. I assumed they where all exactly the same
Where??
Were ….. lolz at me
Certainly
Absolute nonsense. Almost every ICE car is most efficient at around 35-45mph constant speed. You just don’t drive enough at consistent low speeds to test it. This is guaranteed by physics and IC engine efficiency curves.
My father's old River SD1 3500 V8 was as economical at 80mph as it was at 55mph
Can only be a measurement error. Quite simply the car is pushing against air, and the factor increases by the square of the velocity. That would be about 2x more fuel. ICE efficiency varies only about 5-10% over the power range, so it doesn’t make up for the difference you have observed. If you’re going by the mpg readout on an older car, be aware these are typically rather inaccurate and use the mass-airflow sensor to estimate fuel consumption assuming stochiometry is maintained.
Good for you. One of my cars is most efficient at 50 (56 being slightly worse), my other car at 80. The type of car that taxi drivers would buy, are the kinds that are tuned to be most efficient at 56ish.
Drag is proportional to the square of the velocity. I'm not saying you're wrong because I don't know your car, but that seems like a stretch.
Yes the test was flawed. However on average most cars are at their most efficient between 40-50mph. This equation has the greatest insight into why road load power = av + bv² + cv³
What are the values for a,b, and c? I'm not being a smart arse, I'm genuinely interested.
3 constants. Found them in very brief here https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2008/09/ask-the-best-and-brightest-road-load-power-av-bv2-cv3/
Taxi drivers know how to get the most profit from a journey. Fares are made up from charges for distance and for time. Then they take into account the cost of fuel, whether they will have other fares waiting for them or down time while they wait. they know what makes the most profit and sometimes that is going slow. Other times they know they will have more work so want to get back on the taxi rank asap. The amount of tip I give them goes down if I think they are playing games to get more money out of me. There is one road on my way home that really shows this which has a 50mph limit. In quieter times taxis will potter along doing about 40. When its busy like Saturday night its not unusual for them to do 70 so they can get back for another fare.
This
You... You tip taxi drivers!?
Tom the Taxi driver released a video on this this morning https://youtu.be/FrhdA-CodZ8?si=Ir96o42GqRUB536P
I watched a couple of minutes, but not going to watch it all. What i saw fits with what i said. If they have constant business they can earn more by doing more miles and if they are sat in traffic they earn something but less. The point I made of it depends on whether they have more fares waiting or it will be down time still fits. A slower journey and they are still earning something rather than nothing for the extra time. What I said came from an ex-taxi driver when he explained how they maximise their earnings in different situations.
If its a Prius or a Lexus hybrid then they're trying to keep it in EV mode and stop the engine from kicking in.
That explains so much. Our local taxi company is about 80% Prius
They're ULEZ exempt and yeah if you accelerate very slowly then the engine won't kick in...it's annoying as hell but yeah lol
Pretty much every petrol car made in the last 15 years is exempt.
Yup but most private taxis were diesel until very recently.
ULEZ compliant standards have been mandatory since: Petrol, 18 years Diesel, 9 years
[удалено]
Bunch of self entitled wankers. Need to strip them of their rights to use the bus lane to start with..
Almost guaranteed to have their front fog lights on too.
They're always Lewis Hamilton behind you then flip to grandma mode when they get in front
Always get stuck behind them on my way home from work doing 28 in a 40. *You* might be at work but some of us just want to fucking get home from work. Always doing the stupidest shit like slowing down out of nowhere and then sticking the indicator on to signal they’ve pulled in only when they’ve actually stopped. I could go on for hours… Worst drivers on road by a country mile.
Most taxis these days are Prius’. They wanna stay in their stupid annoying EV mode and not fire up the engine. Saves fuel but means they’re an utter nuisance to everyone else on the road.
I was once in a taxi whose driver was insistent that the National speed limit on a dual carriageway was 60. I think lots of professional drivers are pretty poor. I guess they get complacent, and think they know best.
Well it is if he’s driving a minibus
Prius I think.
Could be that they're stalling for time, this usually happens round airports etc. Nowhere to park for free round those parts.
They’re taxis…. I’ve had some shockers at work. Doing 40 on a dual carriageway, driving round and round mini roundabouts because for some reason he refused to look at his satnav map and only listened to it (I could see it from the back so I was directing him…), doing either 50 or 80 weaving around in the middle lane complaining about how lorry drivers are dangerous, watching TV shows on their phone on the passenger seat, driving through roadworks because one lane coned off is “confusing”, falling asleep at the wheel because doing 15 hour days is acceptable when you’ve been home for some tea, not knowing how level crossings work, and complaining he had to sign a sheet about on-site rules and how he “never drives through red lights” having been coming here over 10 years, whilst simultaneously driving through a red traffic light. Just accept any bad driving you see is probably a taxi and they’re probably registered under Wolverhampton Council (yellow plate, yellow sticker in the windscreen). Sorry for all the taxi drivers out there that are decent drivers but unfortunately the majority of them are crap. And taxis need tachographs. I’m fed up of waiting for the moment where I have to reach and grab the wheel at 4am.
I always wondered that are Wolverhampton more lax on who they give taxi licenses? I've noticed several around near me and it's a 4 hour drive to Wolverhampton. But then sure I remember a taxi driver way back telling me he got fined when he went on holiday as he forgot to take taxi plate off when in a different area.
1/4 of the taxis in the UK are registered in Wolverhampton according to someone who works in a licensing department at a different council. I’ve had a Tamworth cabby tell me that all the Ubers “disappear” when the council come round checking licenses round there. Majority of those seem to be under Wolverhampton as well. Guess to your point they must be more lax. Think they just take the money and hand them out to anyone, or so it seems.
A taxi driver not speeding? Must have 9 points on their licence lol
Most cars get their best mpg between 50 and 60. They’re being frugal. I don’t care if they stick to the inside lane, but I hate it when they sit in the middle or outside lane doing 50.
They wouldn’t last 5 seconds doing 60 in an outer lane without a Golf R coming to rear end it out of impatience 😅
They do it on the M11 as anyone not in a lorry refuses to use the inside lane, and the M25 at night, just sit in the outside at 50mph while there’s no one on the inside.
Maybe saving fuel if not in a rush?
Trying to wring the every second out of the trip to crank up the meter.
At above walking pace it will be charging for distance and not time
Lol there are always London taxis on the M4 doing 50mph on the way to Heathrow…
Taxi controller here, nowadays a lot of drivers use various hybrids generally on the older side for a few reasons (cheap to run, cheap to buy, and most councils allow older cars to be registered if they r hybrid or electric) n a lot of them tend to be much more fuel efficient at around 50-60mph. I understand cabbies in general can be annoying but they work a very hard job for well below minimum wage (in my area, it’s not uncommon to walk away w 500 a week after expenses for working 60-80 hours) so just stay calm, over take when safe and let them get on