tinkerbill; I have not made any effort to reduce fuel consumption by any other means than aerodynamics, moderate hypermiling, and gearing, although others have had success doing this I have no interest in doing such things until I reach the end of the road with aerodynamics. In high school, when I was kicked out of class I would go to the library and read anything I could find on aerodynamic, unlike the others who would go to the pool hall
. When you look at the fuel savings available from no alternator and compare that with what is available from aerodynamics it is clear that aerodynamics has more to offer. My car weighs 2300lbs or more, because I carry a tool box a sleeping bag and other cold weather servival stuff and have made no effort to remove weight although I have thought about it. I live in a very small town/village, and the majority of my driving is on highways without stop and go driving. I have been told that removing the back seat would save 100lbs and that a carbon fiber rear hatch would save another 15lbs and the carbon fiber hood would save 5lbs. all in all I think your estimate of under 2000lbs is right on the money, if weight loss was somethig I wanted to pursue. The only electrical thing that interests me at this time is solar power, if I could find some conveniant way to add solar power to any of my vehicles I would do it. I have tried charging my battery with a 20 watt panel but have ended up with dead batteries
because at night the battery drains back through the solar panel, the solution is to use diods or some other form of disconect when the sun is off. When I do think about solar power I imagen it on a minivan that has been elongated with a boat tail covered with solar panels on the top and maybe on the sides, over the full length. I suspect that good aerodynamics and solar power will work well together, because aerodynamic vehicles tend to be longer and thus have more surface area for solar panels
. an other hairbrained Idea is to use the heat from solar radiation to warm the air going into the wake, thus raising the pressure in the wake and reducing drag. Or use solar powered fans to inject air into the wake or maybe do both...
