Commercially produced aerodynamic pickup bed cap

[brucepick]

Originally Posted by bondo

... I have chosen not to take the lucrative contract job I spoke of earlier on page one of this thread. I have now commited to get the aero cap to market. There comes a time in everyones life when you just have to see what you are made of. That time for me is now.

Brett

Wow. That does take some guts. I hope you succeed tremendously.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by bondo

Metrompg,

My name is Brett and I am the guy who has built the aero cap you started this post about. First of all, please accept my apology for not answering your email when you tired to contact me earlier. I found your post on a google search today and joined ecomodder right away. I am glad to know there are others out there who want to squeeze every mile out of the gas that goes into our tank that we can. As a nation, we have to do this to reduce our dependency on foriegn oil. As individuals, we must do this to reduce the amount of pollutants our fossil fueled vehicles emit into the atmosphere.

The aerodynamic cap has been exciting and frustrating. The exciting part is it works! This has been proven through wind tunnel testing and road tests. The frustrating part is that I have been unable to obtain the financing to go to the next level.

I have funded the development of the product while working a full time job. My work now takes me out of state and I must put the aero cap on hold for six months to a year. I would much rather set up production of the cap but I have to pay the bills.

I tried to gain funding through the government. Nothing! I emailed my Senator on the matter four times and got no response. I emailed him a fifth time asking where I might send a campaign contribution to? I got a response to that email in less that 24 hours!

Sorry I am getting political but I am frustrated by the politicians who loudly say we must develop more fuel efficient vehicles to reduce our dependence on foriegn oil. They need to put their money where their mouth is!

There are millions of trucks in the US all of which could have improved fuel efficiency by installing an aero cap over the bed of the pickup. This would save millions of gallons of gas a day! But this will take a large production capacity which will takes millions to set up and get running. While my brother was in Iraq in 2004, he was shown a duffle bag with 2.1 million dollars in it in $100,000 dollar stacks. These were called footballs. The money was passed out to Iraqi citizens to help them start businesses to shore up the economy in Iraq. True story, it was on 60 minutes. There is over 3 billion dollars that is now unaccouted for.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing but the well being of the United States at heart and would give my life for this country, as my little brother almost did. You have to think about how much could be done to reduce our reliance on foriegn oil if some of that 3 billion dollars would have been made available to folks like me and to others, who are probably even more deserving, who are developing fuel saving technologies on a shoe string budget.

The biggest irony is that I have to take the job out of state so I can pay the taxes from 2007 which will be due in April, because I used the money I should have been paying in to the I.R.S. quarterly for taxes, to develop the aero cap. You see my frustration.

Sorry to be so long winded. Oh by the way my truck went from a baseline of 18 mpg average on the freeway to 22 mpg. Combined went from 16 mpg to 17.7 mpg. You can see how much fuel a pickup truck owner could save. You can see how much the millions of pickup truck owners in this country would save if they had an aero cap. So when you vote for your candidate of choice, I hope when they say we need to reduce our dependency on foriegn oil, they are not just spewing forth campaign rhetoric.

I am honored to be in the company of those who pursue fuel efficieny,

Brett Herndon
Little Rock, Arkansas

Brett,there used to be SBIR Small Business Innovation Research grants,through the Small Business Administration,and various federal govt. offices.They'd start you out at $50,000 to prove a concept,then perhaps $300,000 later to get you to commercial production.If you haven't heard about these it is worth checking out,however,they may no longer be available,just don't know.Sorry I don't have current info about them,good luck!,Phil.

[pawilkes]

i just stumbled on this sight about a month and a half ago with a link the the aerocivic page and started thinking about making an aero cap for a truck that could be converted to a normal topper, very similar to you idea. amazing how good ideas can be realized simultaneously and independently. your design looks great and very professional but i think that you sacrificed the aerodynamic potential to appease the masses. if the sloped back of the topper was extended back to meet the tailgate in its down position the low-pressure zone behind the truck could be further minimized, reducing overall drag. but like i said, i realize you have to keep your product attractive to the mainstream to increase its chances of success. personally, i would love to buy an old VW diesel pickup, convert it to run on veggie grease and make an aero top for it that extends to the lowered tailgate and then have a boat tail coming up from below the tailgate.

[SVOboy]

If it extended to the lowered tailgate would the slope be too great to hold the attached flow, though? Of course it would depend on model, but in general, I wonder.

[pawilkes]

thats a great question, i don't really know. i don't think it would change the angle much but like you said it would depend on the model. I think it would just have to be something that you keep in mind during the design process.

[H4MM3R]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

If it extended to the lowered tailgate would the slope be too great to hold the attached flow, though? Of course it would depend on model, but in general, I wonder.

I would have think your right. The air would break up esp. at higher speeds.
Or he could add a rear spoiler. Where the top of the tailgate use to be. Sloping the dome under the spoiler so there is a gap. At lower speeds the the air would hold to the dome and slide under the spoiler and at higher speeds the air could transfer to the spoiler to separate from the dome.

[MetroMPG]

FYI: ToyotaNation truck forum freakout: "would you put this (aero) cap on your truck?"

Some (startlingly) negative response to the idea of an aero cap. You can be the judge as to whether or not the responders are representative of pickup owners. (I'm thinking: "no.")

[dremd]

Subscribed:
Some thoughts:
SEMA has several resources for getting parts like this (plastic/ fiberglass, large) to market economically. MAYbe helpful.
DON'T let any forum Nazis run your plans.
Potentially consider (future?) a setup which folds the top portion up against the cab to retain most cargo space when needed. I have an idea in my head, I'd be happy to sketch it if anyone would like an explanation. (brain storm)
If you are anyplace near South La I'd love to lend a hand, in hopes of seeing these things on the road.

[bestmapman]

I think it is a great design. Not everyone will. That particular forum is not interested now. As gas prices increase they will be.

[ankit]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

FYI: ToyotaNation truck forum freakout: "would you put this (aero) cap on your truck?"

Some (startlingly) negative response to the idea of an aero cap. You can be the judge as to whether or not the responders are representative of pickup owners. (I'm thinking: "no.")

Kinda funny because I started the same thread on the 24th in another forum that I visit and I received the same feed back.

http://www.nissanclub.com/forums/off...k-warning.html

I don't think you can see the poll results without being a member so...
16-"eww...no"
1-"yea anything to save gas"
4-"depends on price"