EcoVelo » Blog Archive » A Portrait of Efficiency

August 27th, 2009

A Portrait of Efficiency

The bicycle requires the equivalent energy of approximately 0.4 liters of gasoline to travel 100 kilometers, and the freight train requires the equivalent energy of approximately 0.6 liters of gasoline to travel 100 kilometers (per ton). That’s darned good gas mileage. As a comparison, a modern hybrid automobile requires approximately 5.0-5.5 liters of gasoline to travel 100 kilometers.

Posted by Alan in Photos, The Kitchen Sink | Bookmark or Share

6 Responses to “A Portrait of Efficiency”

steve says:

actually an average bike rider at a moderate speed can get about 1000 miles per gallon if a gallon is close to 31,000 calories (a rough gasoline equivalent). Here is another look:

http://www.6footsix.com/my_weblog/2008/06/extreme-mileage.html

Posted on August 27th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Garlynn -- Undergroundscience.blogspot.com says:

So, Steve is saying, if I’m running the numbers right, that a bicyclist actually only requires the equivalent energy of approximately 0.235 liters of gasoline to travel 100 kilometers, while Alan is saying that, no, bicycles actually only get 588 miles per gallon, not 1,000.

Right?

I’m curious — what is the gas mileage equivalent of an electrically-powered freight train, per ton (I assume the above figures are for a diesel train, traveling on flat ground, on average)?

Posted on August 28th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Ed says:

What’s the front rack? I like that tray style.

Posted on August 30th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
John says:

The facts here should be presented in miles, miles per gallon and gallons. Americans don’t understand metric quantities. Also Americans understand miles per gallon not liters per 100 km, which once you are used to using mpg you don’t understand l/km.

Posted on August 31st, 2009 at 4:25 am
Recently Learned or Remembered - memo.ryecroft says:

[...] via ecovelo: The bicycle requires the equivalent energy of approximately 0.4 liters of gasoline to travel 100 [...]

Posted on August 31st, 2009 at 6:19 am
edde says:

I don’t care how much you feed me – I will NOT tote a ton of stuff around on my bike;-)

Posted on September 1st, 2009 at 4:25 am

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