Lawrence had posted about this a month ago: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/Improving-Leaf-economy-range-tp4679309.html ... I was reading online that capping the grill, moving the license plate, reversing the mudflaps and pumping up the tires to 45psi will give you 20% better economy with the Leaf. I'm thinking fender skirts would help as well.
My response was to look at hyper-milling as a major range gainer http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/Hypermiling-for-better-range-td4678457.html My S-10 Blazer conversion EV [ http://brucedp.150m.com/blazer/ ] was so energy inefficient (especially when compared to a production EV like a Leaf), I had paid to add some aerodynamic efficiency (air-dam) tricks to my EV. That is when the front grill was changed to a solid air dam with 6 AC inlets (powering the 6 on-board chargers). I also had the underside of the Blazer smoothed out with a long flat surface, as three sections of thick black plastic sheeting (from TAP Plastics) held in place with Zeus fasteners (so they could be removed for repair work, etc.). There was also an air dam placed in each front fender well to block off air turbulence in and out the ice compartment. I had to make a return trip to the shop to have that adjusted as it was interfering with the tires when they were turned sharply. All that time, effort and money paid off as better range, by 3% at highway speeds (55mph). However, that ice-compartment was so sealed up, that the air-cooled controller was air flow starved. I had to return to the shop and pay to have several large holes punched though the front air dam to give air flow over the air cooled controller at speeds above 35 mph. Was it worth it? At the time when there was nil public EVSE, and what there was was L2-6kW at best (no L3), with huge gaps inbetween, I needed my 2 ton lead-sled to have as much affordable range as possible. With a 55+ mile PbSO4 pack range and up to a 22+kW charging ability (depending on the power available), I was able to push my EV driving trips to the max. Yup, way back then, it was worth it (for me to throw money at the issue). Today, there are so many efficient production EVs available and so much public EVSE than ever before, ... I would be thinking differently than back then if air-dam modifying is really worth the minor gain. ... http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/to+each+his+own To each his own For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/Improving-Leaf-economy-range-tp4679309p4679314.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
