[ECA Systems]

Again, thanks for your continued comments and questions.

The system has no regeration capability and is purely plug-in on the high voltage hybrid assist side. The vehicle may have additional load put on the engine when the vehicle switches back to 12V charge mode to replenish the capacity used by the vehicle's headlights, wipers, a/c, ignition and other electrical loads while the system is in assist mode. Essentially you're just carrying around electrical storage instead of a quanitity of fuel in the gas tank. Once the battery is depleated the system is suspended until the battery is charged.

As far as the fuel economy gains reported on the Website and on the youtube video they are totally correct and genuine. If you view the entirety of the gains video in the "Historical" video section of the website, the first two clips show fulll length videos of exactly how the MPG gains were recorded. The vehicle's cruise control was set and then the average mpg was reset on the OEM display. The average MPG display in the Mazda CX-7 samples for 60 seconds before displaying the average result. In all of the tests, the vehicle's cruise control was controlling the speed at all times and the vehicle was traveling the same direction over the same stretch of road at the same time of day. I felt this was sufficient to yield accurate results.

Also, I have done several studies on the total cost comparison between stock and using the assist system including all components, expected battery life and electricity consumption. These results can vary greatly between drivers due to many factors so I designed a device, several months ago, that can be plugged into a perspective customers OBDii port that will estimate the % gain in fuel economy and the % reduction in fuel cost they can reasonably expect given their normal driving habits. This device will also be able to estimate the battery size they will need since it is based on the same algorithms that the actual system is and can determine when and for how long the assist system would be active and at what speeds. I am really doing everything I can to make sure perspective customers will have an accurate estimation of gains so they can make an informed decision. If you do a lot of stop and go driving and sitting in traffic the retrofit kit may not be very effective, however is you drive longer distances at fairly stable speeds this system can be very effective as reducing fuel consumption.

As for blind testing, I have always intened to conduct field testing with independant drivers. After I get the Demo/Extended test vehicle completed in the next several weeks and get a month or so road time, I will consider recruiting a few trustworthy interested parties form this forum and others to carryout independant testing and report results and document problems. If you may be interested in doing this send me an email through my website or this forum expressing that you would like to take part in field testing. You will need to have the ability to convert your alternator and purchase and assemble the components yourself and the conversion vehicle preferably needs to have an OEM mpg display for credibility (My 2004 Ford Taurus has an average mpg display built in to the instrument cluster and the 2011 CX-7 had both Instant and Average displays). I will supply instructions, a bill of materials with suppliers, software and consulting in exchange for full rights to your test results and signing of confidentiality agreements. Don't worry, all of the current components used in the system are off the shelf with only minor electrical assembly and soldering.