Ecodriving (aka Hypermiling)

Mitsubishi i-MiEV Forum

Help Support Mitsubishi i-MiEV Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

NeilBlanchard

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 19, 2012
Messages
356
Location
Maynard, MA Eaarth
Greetings,

I've been ecodriving for almost 5 years now, and I've lowered my energy cost by at least 50% average all year round. Even though I drive an ICE (until I finish building my CarBEN EV5 project), the basic principles are the same for all drivetrains. Here's an episode of Chronicle that I was on, along with several other ecodrivers:

http://www.wcvb.com/chronicle/Thurs...3032/14691008/-/pubkd8z/-/index.html#comments

Segment one [Blanchard hypermiler, Million Mile Joe].
http://www.wcvb.com/chronicle/Beating-gas-pains/-/12523032/14865358/-/xnrewx/-/index.html

Segment two [propane car, Leaf, CarBEN EV5, Fisker Karma].
http://www.wcvb.com/chronicle/Driving-alternatives/-/12523032/14865454/-/ctcrfwz/-/index.html

Segment three [Hobbit hypermiler, Blanchard, Chang 118 mpg].
http://www.wcvb.com/chronicle/Secrets-of-the-hypermilers/-/12523032/14865532/-/6r2wryz/-/index.html

Segment four [Hobbit, MIT Solar Vehicle].
http://www.wcvb.com/chronicle/Looking-to-the-future/-/12523032/14865524/-/idq6n6/-/index.html

My most recent blog post on ecodriving: http://neilblanchard.blogspot.com/2012/05/ecodriving-aka-hypermiling.html

I've rewritten the main part to apply only to EV's:

There are three possible modes of driving:

1) Accelerating 2) Coasting 3) Decelerating

Accelerating uses energy, depending on the weight of the car, the steepness of the grade, and the rate of acceleration.

Coasting uses no added energy, and it uses the accumulated momentum / kinetic energy gained by the acceleration. It only loses energy to aerodynamic and rolling drag.

Decelerating loses energy to energy to aerodynamic and rolling drag and converting kinetic energy to back into electricity and loss in the charger, and if you resort to the friction brakes, heat.

To be the most efficient, we need to minimize the energy it takes to accelerate and the energy lost through regenerative braking, and we need the car to lose a minimum amount of kinetic energy by being as low aerodynamic and rolling drag as possible.

To cover the most distance with the least energy, we need to accelerate up to a speed that will then allow the car to coast as close to the end as possible, and then use regenerative braking to make reuse as much of the remaining kinetic energy as possible. The friction brakes needs to stay as cool as possible.
 
Thanks for the links, Neil. I'm learning a lot here about hypermiling or as you call it 'eco-driving'. I like the mods you made to your Scion. I'm wondering what we can do to our i-MiEV to extend our range. But, maybe something without ducttape. :D

I remember in 7th grade shop class we used to do stuff with plexiglass, shaping it and polishing it so it would look good. I'd like to put a 'fairing' around the rear hatch the way you did with your xA. I saw an article where an Audi was used for aerodynamic testing and they found that shape you used was the best solution for improving the cD of the car.

The mirror-removal is another good solution. I think that would be fairly easy to accomplish, small cameras and two video monitors like the way you did. Perfect.

Thanks for sharing this.

(by the way - segment 4 link did not work).
 
Yeah, I taped 'em on as an experiment - and they work great! They have now survived almost 4 years - and have paid off many times over. My average "range" jumped from ~371 miles to ~497 miles after the aero mods and ecodriving - a 34% improvement. That would take the EPA range from 63 miles up to 84 miles.

Plenty of folks over at EcoModder.com have done things "right" with screw tabs to install the wheel skirts properly, etc. A Kamm back would help the i MiEV and so would a smooth belly pan. Smooth wheel covers are probably done best with fiberglass over the plastic stock wheel covers.

I'm bummed about the broken link - they don't keep the segments public (for whatever reason) and those were supposed to be the permanent links...
 
I'll have to check out EcoModder for some more ideas. I'd like to do something in plexiglass for the back spoiler. I think the clear would give the strength and benefit without a big honkin' thing hanging of the back of the car.

I'm going to put on the smooth hubcaps next month. I found a set I like a lot and think will last.

I'm thinking about ditching the mirrors for the video cameras. But again, I want it to look right. Thanks for all the suggestions and help here. This is great.
 
You probably would have to put the optical mirrors back on for safety inspection. I have to do this every year. So, that means you have to mount the video cameras without changes that would prevent the stock mirrors from working. Here's that part of my aero mods thread - the driver's side installation:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/scion-xa-aero-mods-2969-18.html#post106284

And the more permanent aluminum airfoil covers:

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/scion-xa-aero-mods-2969-22.html#post122825

And yes, a clear polycarbonate Kamm back would be a big help in reducing drag. Along with smooth wheel covers, and infills on the underside between the battery pack and the rocker panels, would also be good.
 
I think it's Hyundai that is currently running a car commercial showing their new power folding mirrors? They fold back at the flip of a switch for when you don't need them and I suspect that alone would make a sizeable difference at freeway speeds. Not enough benefit for me to look into, as we've found other routes to travel since we bought this car so that we're almost never on the freeways anymore - A 70MPH blast down the freeway has become a leisurely 35/45mph trip along the back roads these days . . . . some of our 'alternate routes' are actually a little shorter too

Don
 
Just interesting ideas. I can squeak 7 kilometers out of 1kWh according to my GPS and my Power Meter. If only I could get three more kilometers, I'd have 100 miles/160 kilometers of range. Don't know if it would be possible, but something to strive for.

The other day I went 43 kilometers with six bars off my power meter. That gave me 7.1 kilometers per 1kWh (according to the power meter and the mileage recorded on my GPS). I've done it with 5 bars a few times last summer which was 8.6 kilometers per 1kwh.

This is all at my freeway speed of 85-95 kmh, trying to keep it at 90kmh (59mph) but it depends on hills and slopes.

In a few weeks, I'm going to order the moon hubcaps - see how much I can save there. Summer is coming which means better mileage. I've been looking at the EcoModder forum and getting some other ideas and see if I can get it closer.
 
MLucas said:
In a few weeks, I'm going to order the moon hubcaps - see how much I can save there. Summer is coming which means better mileage. I've been looking at the EcoModder forum and getting some other ideas and see if I can get it closer.

My moon caps have just been removed. The 'crinkling' sound that they make as the steel wheels flex never became much less annoying, and it got much louder after one of the caps kissed a curb. (ahem, :oops: thanks dear...) The stainless steel plus a rubber mallet reassumed it's shape almost perfectly, and circular rubbing with steel wool made the scratches very inconspicuous, but the noise from that cover was noticeably louder.

For my next act, I'm considering snap-in lexan that's painted silver on the backside, with relief holes like this plastic flexcap from Finland (he's on EcoModder but has not responded to my inquiries), and he also makes innovative plugs for flush-mount zip ties....
http://www.tuneko.com/FleXcap---Smooth-hubcaps-for-commercial-vehicles.php

But faster and easier, I'll try the heavy duty shrink film for hobby aircraft to cover my stock plastic covers.
http://www.monokote.com/opaque.html
 
jray3 said:
MLucas said:
In a few weeks, I'm going to order the moon hubcaps - see how much I can save there. Summer is coming which means better mileage. I've been looking at the EcoModder forum and getting some other ideas and see if I can get it closer.

My moon caps have just been removed. The 'crinkling' sound that they make as the steel wheels flex never became much less annoying, and it got much louder after one of the caps kissed a curb. (ahem, :oops: thanks dear...) The stainless steel plus a rubber mallet reassumed it's shape almost perfectly, and circular rubbing with steel wool made the scratches very inconspicuous, but the noise from that cover was noticeably louder.

For my next act, I'm considering snap-in lexan that's painted silver on the backside, with relief holes like this plastic flexcap from Finland (he's on EcoModder but has not responded to my inquiries), and he also makes innovative plugs for flush-mount zip ties....
http://www.tuneko.com/FleXcap---Smooth-hubcaps-for-commercial-vehicles.php

But faster and easier, I'll try the heavy duty shrink film for hobby aircraft to cover my stock plastic covers.
http://www.monokote.com/opaque.html

What was causing the crinkling sound? The flexing of the hubcap or the mounting ring? I was thinking of going with the spun aluminum disk. They are twice the price but I feel they would be stiffer than the stainless steel and the aluminum would hold up better in our winter salt climate. Thoughts?
 
MLucas said:
I was thinking of going with the spun aluminum disk. They are twice the price but I feel they would be stiffer than the stainless steel and the aluminum would hold up better in our winter salt climate. Thoughts?
If you're mounting aluminum hubcaps on steel wheels in a salty environment, you need to make sure that the aluminum and steel don't make contact anywhere to prevent electrolytic oxidation of the aluminum. It might not be easy to prevent the paint on the wheels from scratching enough to expose some steel. Honda has taken great pains to prevent steel-aluminum contact and the resulting electrolytic oxidation on the mostly aluminum early Insight.

Good quality stainless steel (not always what Chinese manufacturers use) should not participate in electrolytic oxidation with steel wheels.

Aluminum hubcaps could dent more easily than stainless steel unless the aluminum is significantly thicker.

But then aluminum is lighter than stainless steel :)

This might be a good application for some sort of plastic hubcap if a suitable one exists.
 
I would do fiberglass over some flat plastic wheel covers. I have found that you need to use two of the spring wire rings on the right side, at least. The moon caps are stainless - but only the cover. The springs are regular steel and the rust and they squeak. Domed is okay, but flat and smooth is even better.

The cameras I used are probably not still available. I looked for view angles 100-120 degrees (too wide an angle "squishes" the image and makes things smaller. I used ~7" LCD screens that are LED backlit (they stay bright even when they get hot) and they are 16:9 so they can widen the "squished" 4:3 image from the cameras.

Here's some similar cameras: http://www.amazon.com/XO-Vision-HTC...253823011_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1364479317&sr=1-13
http://www.amazon.com/PLCM22IR-Flush-Mount-Camera-Vision/dp/B000MCKA5Q/ref=pd_sim_e_10
http://www.amazon.com/Reverse-Backu...=sr_1_43?s=car&ie=UTF8&qid=1364479911&sr=1-43

Here's a similar screen: http://www.amazon.com/Camera-Monitor-Support-Rotating-Screen/dp/B007SLDF7O/ref=pd_bxgy_e_img_y <-- These are really low priced under $36!

I'd save the video mirrors until after you guys do the Kamm back and the smooth wheel covers and the infill flat belly pans.
 
jray3 said:
MLucas said:
In a few weeks, I'm going to order the moon hubcaps - see how much I can save there. Summer is coming which means better mileage. I've been looking at the EcoModder forum and getting some other ideas and see if I can get it closer.

My moon caps have just been removed. The 'crinkling' sound that they make as the steel wheels flex never became much less annoying, and it got much louder after one of the caps kissed a curb. (ahem, :oops: thanks dear...) The stainless steel plus a rubber mallet reassumed it's shape almost perfectly, and circular rubbing with steel wool made the scratches very inconspicuous, but the noise from that cover was noticeably louder.

For my next act, I'm considering snap-in lexan that's painted silver on the backside, with relief holes like this plastic flexcap from Finland (he's on EcoModder but has not responded to my inquiries), and he also makes innovative plugs for flush-mount zip ties....
http://www.tuneko.com/FleXcap---Smooth-hubcaps-for-commercial-vehicles.php

But faster and easier, I'll try the heavy duty shrink film for hobby aircraft to cover my stock plastic covers.
http://www.monokote.com/opaque.html

jray - when you come up with some new hubcaps, let us know. I'll wait on the mooncaps for now until I see something better.
 
Sorry MLucas, instead of improving my hubcaps, I just upgraded to an SE model. ;-P

The last 24 hours have reminded me of hypermiling's benefits in dramatic ways.

We packed the whole family into my 1965 Karmann Ghia Cabriolet and went down to Portland this weekend for the Rose City Bug-In. Didn't take the Karmann Eclectric this time, as dragging it to a static display never feels quite right, and the Range Trailer ain't done yet. SO, after a great show and 200 miles of incident-free cruising (and since the tuckered-out family had fallen asleep inside the hurricane that is a convertible on the interstate) I made a few full-throttle blasts, passing traffic up hills, etc.. That's when the engine suddenly lost all power. Turns out that the fuel supply pipe was overheated and boiling, vapor-locking the fuel pump. After a cool-down stop, I fell back in line behind some of the minivans and RVs that I had blasted by earlier.... :oops: Hare demoted to tortise.

Since today is another rare and beautiful top-down day around the Puget Sound, I took the Ghia out for more exercise, and halfway to my destination, the accelerator cable parted. My old shoelace substitution trick didn't stick, so I just locked the engine into a high idle, and was able to lug it along at up to 30 mph, with acceleration that made semi truck drivers impatient...
Yet by picking my line and timing traffic lights, I was able to pull alongside an impatient driver who had passed me no fewer than three times over the next few miles. Hare demoted to tortise starts smiling. :mrgreen:

So I slowly cruised on back home, shuttled the minivan out to my wife for the rest of her daily errands, and reclaimed the i. (We usually assign Mr BEAN to whoever will drive the farthest on each day!)
Ready for more hare-brained fun, :twisted: i zipped thru traffic with its usual ease and frosty air conditioning, only causing one pang of guilt when I surprised an old fart in an old pickup truck who didn't get the memo that 55 mph limits died long ago. So I double-checked the 82 mph top speed, blew off all the dust, and several exits later, just missed a yellow light at the top of an off ramp and looked down to select my music for on a long red light. When I looked up again, who was behind me, but the old fart and his slow pickup! Tortise ties up with the hare once again! :lol:
 
Back
Top