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Old 03-13-2016, 11:53 PM   #37 (permalink)
Isaac Zackary
Full sized hybrid.
 
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Location: Colorado
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Suzy - '13 Toyota Avalon Hybrid XLE
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Mechanic View Post
Aero drag is listed as being 70% of the total resistance forces at 70 mph, 30% at 30 mph.

regards
mech
That's what I thought. But it doesn't matter how many times I check my math. With that kind of air drag the Leaf should go much further than 100 miles. As much as 5 times further .

Simply a couple of kilowatts at 100kph is nothing. I'd expect more like 10. Maybe I'm doing the math wrong, but I can't see where.

Math aside, it would seem to me that a boat tail, wheel skirts and some air dams in front of the wheels along with some slower-than-usual driving ought to double the current range.

Edit:

I see where I made the mistake. I used a CdA number instead of actual area. The no way a Leaf is going to have a frontal area of .7m^2. It's 2.2297m^2. So it takes about 8.5kW just to push the Leaf through the air at 100kph. I'd like to see what kind of Cd is possible on a Leaf with mods. But for now, I'm glad I figured it out.

Last edited by Isaac Zackary; 03-14-2016 at 05:04 AM.. Reason: fixed wrong number
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