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veloman · 07-06-2015, 07:15 PM

My wife and I are going to be driving to the west coast and back in 2 months and I have been thinking of ways I can utilize some of the stuff I already have to improve mpg.
Car - 2005 Ford Focus auto hatchback
I have been building ebikes and emotorcycles for years now. I do have, at my disposal, a 75v 60ah lithium pack I use on my motorcycle (Nissan Leaf cells). And also a 45v 45ah lithium pack which is in my wife's electric scooter (part of a Chevy Volt battery).
I also have numerous other small ebicycle sized lithium batteries.

I've thought of the 5th wheel drive, because I do have a powerful 10" scooter hub not in use. (from a Zapino scooter). But 98% of driving is going to be highway, so a lower power drive which would be okay for around town is not going to help much. Plus, a drive system is going to be quite complex and not able to integrate for max efficiency (can't just shut off the engine on the Focus on downhills, for example).

I personally want us to sell it and get a used Prius gen 2 or something. But she wants to keep her car until it's 'dead'. Even though it gets 34mpg at best. (not very good IMO)

So.... if I can get a powerful DC-DC step down converter for my 75v battery, I could then hook that up to the 12v system to reduce load on the engine. Maybe unhook the alternator? The battery is 4kwh, so it's got some energy in it.
The AC compressor is the biggest drain on the engine, so if I could power the AC with my battery that would be ideal. Maybe a stand alone AC unit running off my battery? We will be bringing our two dogs, so I know she won't want to be stingy with AC use. (I've driven cross country myself with a soaked tshirt to keep the AC use to a bare minimum.

I am going to crawl under the car and see what kind of smoothing I can do with coroplast sheets. My wife isn't going to be happy about any mods that are visible though

I just want to see what ideas you experts would consider the best, considering I do have 6kwh of free lithium batteries to use.

Or should I keep trying to convince her to swap over to a Prius? (which I loved driving a '13 model that we rented. I got 64mpg average with lots of highway use.)

07-06-2015, 07:15 PM	#1 (permalink)
veloman EcoModding Lurker Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: Austin TX Posts: 72 Thanks: 19 Thanked 16 Times in 12 Posts	Have large battery, what to mod? My wife and I are going to be driving to the west coast and back in 2 months and I have been thinking of ways I can utilize some of the stuff I already have to improve mpg. Car - 2005 Ford Focus auto hatchback I have been building ebikes and emotorcycles for years now. I do have, at my disposal, a 75v 60ah lithium pack I use on my motorcycle (Nissan Leaf cells). And also a 45v 45ah lithium pack which is in my wife's electric scooter (part of a Chevy Volt battery). I also have numerous other small ebicycle sized lithium batteries. I've thought of the 5th wheel drive, because I do have a powerful 10" scooter hub not in use. (from a Zapino scooter). But 98% of driving is going to be highway, so a lower power drive which would be okay for around town is not going to help much. Plus, a drive system is going to be quite complex and not able to integrate for max efficiency (can't just shut off the engine on the Focus on downhills, for example). I personally want us to sell it and get a used Prius gen 2 or something. But she wants to keep her car until it's 'dead'. Even though it gets 34mpg at best. (not very good IMO) So.... if I can get a powerful DC-DC step down converter for my 75v battery, I could then hook that up to the 12v system to reduce load on the engine. Maybe unhook the alternator? The battery is 4kwh, so it's got some energy in it. The AC compressor is the biggest drain on the engine, so if I could power the AC with my battery that would be ideal. Maybe a stand alone AC unit running off my battery? We will be bringing our two dogs, so I know she won't want to be stingy with AC use. (I've driven cross country myself with a soaked tshirt to keep the AC use to a bare minimum. I am going to crawl under the car and see what kind of smoothing I can do with coroplast sheets. My wife isn't going to be happy about any mods that are visible though I just want to see what ideas you experts would consider the best, considering I do have 6kwh of free lithium batteries to use. Or should I keep trying to convince her to swap over to a Prius? (which I loved driving a '13 model that we rented. I got 64mpg average with lots of highway use.)