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Active Grill Shutters

floydv

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Active grill shutters help improve gas mileage at highway speeds by closing or reducing airflow through the grill when it's not needed (which is supposed to be most times since there's typically more airflow than needed to cool the radiator and engine). There are a number of vehicles already using them, and according to a primary supplier (Magna), virtually every new vehicle in coming years will use active shutters.

http://www.magna.com/capabilities/exterior-systems/innovation-technology/active-grille-systems

image.jpeg


Do we know if Elio is considering these to squeeze out even higher mileage results?
 

ehwatt

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Active grill shutters help improve gas mileage at highway speeds by closing or reducing airflow through the grill when it's not needed (which is supposed to be most times since there's typically more airflow than needed to cool the radiator and engine). There are a number of vehicles already using them, and according to a primary supplier (Magna), virtually every new vehicle in coming years will use active shutters.

http://www.magna.com/capabilities/exterior-systems/innovation-technology/active-grille-systems

View attachment 7758

Do we know if Elio is considering these to squeeze out even higher mileage results?
That used to be done manually, seems like a small "ball" chain goes in or out then drops in a slot. I think it was the infamous Vega that had an airfoil based grill: the faster it went increased the aero effect, choking the flow. The Lotus Elise also.
 
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KenK

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Yeah, I'd like to see some numbers on this. Seems kind of gimmicky. Then again, the photo shows a Dodge Ram... not exactly a sleek profile. Might help when you are driving a brick wall around, but something that already has a low coefficient of drag, this is probably of little benefit.
 

Coss

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I know that semi's will use shutters or some other way to block off the motor to keep it hot; diesels don't function to well in sub-zero temperatures.
I wonder if that's why that Dodge Ram has the shutters; maybe it was running a Cummins Diesel heading up to Alaska.
 

Coss

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According to Edmunds, there's a wide variety of makes and models using them now, which is expected to increase in the future. Seems like those OEMs have concluded the benefits are real and they justify the costs.
http://www.edmunds.com/car-news/act...re-latest-way-to-improve-fuel-efficiency.html
This is taken from the article: "Ford says the 2015 Ford Mustang with 2.3-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder engine will be equipped with active grille shutters because hard-working turbos "need a lot of cooling air fed through the grille."
So Ford says the "hard working turbos need a lot of cooling air through the grill" so they're going to put on shutters to block off air? That sense no makes to me.
 
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