Hypermiling Mods For The Elio

[Ian T. Lopp]

I've known about hypermiling for a few months now, but really haven't pushed myself into it. I'm doing more research on the subject, what I can do to improve my gas mileage on my current vehicle, and what tools can be purchased/used to make it even better. Now that the ELIO is in my sights, it just makes sense to translate these ideas over to an already great gas mileage car and see just how far it can be taken.
Seeing as how there's a lot of discussion of hypermiling techniques here, I decided to focus more on mods that can improve gas mileage. I've looked through search and didn't find any, but then, there are a lot of topics to read through, so I hope I'm not repeating what other people have already said.

That being said, I'm looking at two areas for improving the P4 model. 1) the side mirrors, like the Volkswagen XL1, I'm thinking of switching over to rear view cameras and displays inside the "cockpit." I'm not sure just how much wind resistance would be reduced by doing so, but it seems to be the only real thing I might be able to pull off without getting an engineering degree.

Is this a prevalent idea? I've not seen a lot of talk about doing it. Most hypermiling I've seen suggests just removing one side mirror (which seems somewhat foolhardy to me, especially on the ELIO which doesn't have a rear view mirror to begin with. I'm also considering a multicamera array with a system to merge all video signals into one long wide view that would be displayed across, perhaps, the top of the dash board, at the bottom of the window. So many ideas, so little ELIO in hand to play with.

2) After market cruise control. Now mind you, so far the specific combination I'm going to describe doesn't exist as a purchasable package, but there's information found here about making a cruise control system that works on MPG rather than MPH. Scroll down to jomelmaldonado and read his posts on the subject. You can safely ignore a lot of the other posts, as, sadly, there are a lot of maysayers to his approach, but if you read his stream, you'll see just how functional he's made his system.
Now I don't know enough about the internal workings of the IAV engine to know how to translate jomelmaldonado's idea over to the ELIO, but I suspect, as time goes on, more info will be released, and we (or I, if legitimately noone else is interestedly - though odd it might be).

Perhaps some of you know more about the engine to give insight on how this could work?

 

[goofyone]

I've known about hypermiling for a few months now, but really haven't pushed myself into it. I'm doing more research on the subject, what I can do to improve my gas mileage on my current vehicle, and what tools can be purchased/used to make it even better. Now that the ELIO is in my sights, it just makes sense to translate these ideas over to an already great gas mileage car and see just how far it can be taken.
Seeing as how there's a lot of discussion of hypermiling techniques here, I decided to focus more on mods that can improve gas mileage. I've looked through search and didn't find any, but then, there are a lot of topics to read through, so I hope I'm not repeating what other people have already said.

That being said, I'm looking at two areas for improving the P4 model. 1) the side mirrors, like the Volkswagen XL1, I'm thinking of switching over to rear view cameras and displays inside the "cockpit." I'm not sure just how much wind resistance would be reduced by doing so, but it seems to be the only real thing I might be able to pull off without getting an engineering degree.

Is this a prevalent idea? I've not seen a lot of talk about doing it. Most hypermiling I've seen suggests just removing one side mirror (which seems somewhat foolhardy to me, especially on the ELIO which doesn't have a rear view mirror to begin with. I'm also considering a multicamera array with a system to merge all video signals into one long wide view that would be displayed across, perhaps, the top of the dash board, at the bottom of the window. So many ideas, so little ELIO in hand to play with.

2) After market cruise control. Now mind you, so far the specific combination I'm going to describe doesn't exist as a purchasable package, but there's information found here about making a cruise control system that works on MPG rather than MPH. Scroll down to jomelmaldonado and read his posts on the subject. You can safely ignore a lot of the other posts, as, sadly, there are a lot of maysayers to his approach, but if you read his stream, you'll see just how functional he's made his system.
Now I don't know enough about the internal workings of the IAV engine to know how to translate jomelmaldonado's idea over to the ELIO, but I suspect, as time goes on, more info will be released, and we (or I, if legitimately noone else is interestedly - though odd it might be).

Perhaps some of you know more about the engine to give insight on how this could work?

1. We have discussed mirrors and cameras in other threads. The major issue we have found is that the law in nearly every state, and federal motor vehicle law, requires motorcycles to have at least one mirror and cameras are not yet authorized to replace mirrors. This is just another area where technology has outpaced the laws.
My guess is you could probably get away with it but legally you would be taking chance as you never know what the police or a judge may say about it if it comes to that.

2. I really like the idea of a cruise control system that is aware off fuel mileage not just vehicle speed. Cruise control systems are well known for being hard on fuel consumption in many driving situations. I think the idea you linked to is actually more complicated, and vehicle specific, than it needs to be today. I have software on my phone that gives me real time fuel consumption information by tapping into my cars OBD data stream. I am sure someone with programming skills could use the same data to optimize the fuel efficiency of a cruise control system.

 

[Lil4X]

We once had a motorhome that weighed in at around eight tons - built on a Dodge truck engine/chassis that sported a 318 CID V8. It was sort of the definition of underpowered. That right pedal was primarily the volume control for the engine struggling beneath the big hump between the driver and front seat passenger - beyond the first inch of travel, it didn't have much at all to do with acceleration. A conventional cruise control didn't understand that, and confronted with a slight uphill stretch of road, it would floor the throttle in an attempt to maintain speed - with little effect on actual velocity. What it did was drain the fuel tanks at a ferocious rate. This was in the mid-seventies, and I was learning hypermiling the hard way.

I found a solution in the JC Whitney catalog - in those days the absolute resource for maintaining a camper at anything like a reasonable price. They offered an aftermarket "cruise control" that was a real Rube Goldberg invention. Mounted under the dash at about your shin level, this little plastic box was essentially a fishing reel with a magnetic lock. A thin cable ran through a pulley on the floorboard and was tied to the accelerator pedal and as you pressed down on the pedal, a spring on the reel pulled in the cable. When you reached your desired speed, you pulled out a knob on the box, locking the reel and holding the pedal at that position. Stepping on the brake would disengage the magnetic lock on the reel and release the "cruise control".

It was really crude, but it was effective in preserving what small amount of economy could be wrested from that small engine. On a relatively flat to gently rolling Interstate, the vehicle would slow on the uphill sections, but regain speed gradually once the road flattened out. You just learned to affix your position in life to the right lane. On long trips, this "crude control" cut our fuel consumption from six to nearly nine MPG, with one trip over slightly rolling terrain producing twelve MPG. I've never seen any other cruise control that could double your mileage - even if it had the power to totally jack up the day for the unfortunate motorists stuck behind you on a 2-lane. You learned to use the cruise with discretion to avoid becoming the victim of a drive-by shooting. This is Texas, you know. o_O

 

[D.D.Bwana]

1. We have discussed mirrors and cameras in other threads. The major issue we have found is that the law in nearly every state, and federal motor vehicle law, requires motorcycles to have at least one mirror and cameras are not yet authorized to replace mirrors. This is just another area where technology has outpaced the laws.
My guess is you could probably get away with it but legally you would be taking chance as you never know what the police or a judge may say about it if it comes to that.

2. I really like the idea of a cruise control system that is aware off fuel mileage not just vehicle speed. Cruise control systems are well known for being hard on fuel consumption in many driving situations. I think the idea you linked to is actually more complicated, and vehicle specific, than it needs to be today. I have software on my phone that gives me real time fuel consumption information by tapping into my cars OBD data stream. I am sure someone with programming skills could use the same data to optimize the fuel efficiency of a cruise control system.

Could you stick mirrors to the back of the fenders?

 

[CrimsonEclipse]

Install a perforated skin laminar flow system?

Custom panels? golf ball dimples?

Narrow(er) high pressure tires?

 

[Joshua Caldwell]

Could you stick mirrors to the back of the fenders?

You could, but I've sat in the Elio and you can barely see the fenders + they are not sprung and so the image will be vibrated into uselessness.

 

[Ian T. Lopp]

Could you stick mirrors to the back of the fenders?

That was an interesting idea until I remembered the wheels turn and would make the mirrors fairly useless... unless they had their own independent turning mechanism to keep them properly aligned. What if they turned with the wheels but much less so, to give you more visibility in important areas around you, while also providing the normal visibility needed for proper driving. i.e. if you turn the wheels 10 degrees to the right, the left mirror rotates 5 degrees to the left (with the back of the left fender) so it gives you more visibility to the left of the vehicle in the turn. I'll have to look into this in a more 3 dimensional aspect to see how this could work out.

 

[Ian T. Lopp]

Install a perforated skin laminar flow system?

I tried googling this. I'm now more confused by the description than the original terms... What does this do?

Custom panels? golf ball dimples?

I've heard this said before about golf ball dimples increasing gas mileage, and I believe mythbusters did an episode around that, but I didn't get that episode unfortunately. Is this actually legitimate?

Narrow(er) high pressure tires?

Good idea for some. Unfortunately it wouldn't work for me, as I'll be moving to Alaska and I need all the traction wider snow tires can provide.

It does beg the question though, can golf ball dimples be made attractive?

 

[Ian T. Lopp]

2. I really like the idea of a cruise control system that is aware off fuel mileage not just vehicle speed. Cruise control systems are well known for being hard on fuel consumption in many driving situations. I think the idea you linked to is actually more complicated, and vehicle specific, than it needs to be today. I have software on my phone that gives me real time fuel consumption information by tapping into my cars OBD data stream. I am sure someone with programming skills could use the same data to optimize the fuel efficiency of a cruise control system.

I'll reserve response to the first point so that I don't incriminate myself in the future.
But on the second point, while the specific points raised in that thread are specific to the vehicle in question, I don't think it'd be all too difficult to modify them to fit any other specific vehicle. As long as you can get a variable voltage from a fuel system that directly correlates to the amount of fuel being expended, then an aftermarket cruise control can be modified to work just the way he describes.
But I like fancy technology anyway, so I'll throw this out there. MPGuino (click the name) is a fuel use system based on the arduino board. Since the arduino boards are commonly used for robotics and other control systems, it would be an easy thing (for those familiar) to create a cruise control system using that to provide the best end user experience. Be it a fire and forget system, or something much more tailorable, giving the end user as much or as little control as possible for the end result.

 

[Ian T. Lopp]

You could, but I've sat in the Elio and you can barely see the fenders + they are not sprung and so the image will be vibrated into uselessness.

Sorry, didn't see your reply until just now, thus rendering my original reply pointless.