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Originally Posted by RobertSmalls
I suppose my goal for 2009 was to get a more economical car. Mission accomplished. For 2010, I want to meet my project goal of 70mpg overall while exceeding the speed limit. That's 32% over EPA Combined, which was easy in the Subaru, but difficult in the Insight in the winter.
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70mpg under these conditions is much harder than I anticipated, but I'm very happy with my fuel economy for 2010: 65.1mpg.
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Originally Posted by RobertSmalls
It's too cold out to work on aeromods right now, but a rear view camera or two is in the cards for 2010, along with front-to-back underbody coverage. I also plan some temporary roof extensions for fuel economy competitions and road trips.
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The rear view camera fell short of expectations, my underbody coverage is good but not complete, and the roof extension... well, I decided to go home instead of go big.
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Originally Posted by RobertSmalls
Aeromods will provide the big gains on the highway, but electrical mods will help more on my commute. I intend to install MIMA_L, and, if possible, go PHEV with the tiny stock battery pack. If I plug in the Insight every night, I'll also run a 12V battery charger so I can deep-cycle my 12V battery, and maybe run a block heater. In any case, I'm going to electrify the garage once the ground thaws.
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Check, check, check, decided against the block heater, and check. The electromods are great; the Insight is broken without them.
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Originally Posted by RobertSmalls
I'm going to buy another Insight, gut it, install a nuclear thermoelectric generator (like NASA uses for deep space missions) in the cargo hold, and a steam engine driving the front wheels through the Insight transmission.
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Turns out any gains were offset by the extra mass (thermal and kinetic) of this setup.