The demons are winning and they say I should mod my volt

[H-Man]

I've been chipping away at my volt, getting the efficiency up. The goal is to stretch my 75MPH range circle enough to make trips downtown and back not need gas. I could just slow down but what where's the challenge there?


Stuff I've done so far:

Tinted every window on the volt with 3M crystalline to cut down on air conditioning load. (I live in arizona. I run the AC 50 weeks out of the year out of necessity.)

Figured out the sweet spot for tire PSI ( stock pressure tears through tires fast, too high and the tires won't grip, I like to be able to do evasive manuvers)-- later

Stuff on the block:

do PM and clean the EGR cooler *before* the walk home fuse blows.
Fix the torn up underbelly panels.
Expand underbelly panels.
Replace existing tires with EV tires once I wear the tires out.
Reduce heat load coming in from roof.
Put more soundproofing into the car since NVH makes me go faster.
Put on side skirts on the real wheels.
Maybes:
Hitch mount boat tail. Caveat: Must be removable since I have a trailer.

Rebuild the trailer to ride lower, add a cover to the trailer bed.

Better nose. (do an aerocivic style intake ducting. ) Caveat: Must be able to provide enough cooling air to handle 4000 ft climbs at 75 MPH while pulling a trailer with 105F ambients. Yes, I'm crazy but this is an actual design case.

[Isaac Zachary]

Cooling cabin: Possibly illegal and dangerous, but have you thought of wrapping your car in aluminum foil to reflect 99% of the sun's rays?

I like the removeable boat-tail idea.

[freebeard]

My design for a retractable boat tail was sized for a van, but the idea was that a rigid plate forms an extension of the diffuser as it swings down into position.

A truncated boat tail could have a four-bar linkage.

There's a thread on reflective roofs. Ultra-white > aluminum.

[H-Man]

Originally Posted by freebeard

My design for a retractable boat tail was sized for a van, but the idea was that a rigid plate forms an extension of the diffuser as it swings down into position.

A truncated boat tail could have a four-bar linkage.

There's a thread on reflective roofs. Ultra-white > aluminum.

I'm thinking about doing an ultra white roof. Only qualm about it is that it might make my car look too much like a cop car. On one hand: Due to my ethical alignment I'm loathe to have that happen since it exploits the fear of the police and I'm friends with a lot of people that fear police [All I'm saying is stonewall to avoid getting politik warning], OTOH, people act stupid on the road so there is value to a deterrence. I'm probs going to run it by some people with a less messed up moral compass than mine.

As for the cargo box, I run a full size spare so the spare takes up most of my cargo area behind the back row. I want that space back but I don't want to give up my full size spare. Plus, sometimes I have to use the back row and that means I can't just keep the seats folded down and use it like a pickup all the time. Thus: Since my car has adaptive cruise it's the go to for road trips. Rigid box so that on road trips, we can stow the luggage I don't need to grab on the trip and save the space behind the seat for stuff like snacks and drinks. ESP if I go full send and emulate the aerocivic since that'd give me about 6 hours of fuel at 85 MPH or nearly 8 hours at 75. Hell, if I drop down to 65 I'm looking at near 11 hours of fuel WITH the AC running... giving 706 miles vs 580 at 85.

(I'm doing all design cases with AC running because heat sensitive.)

I'm aware that it'll cost me about a third of my range to run the AC.

[H-Man]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

Cooling cabin: Possibly illegal and dangerous, but have you thought of wrapping your car in aluminum foil to reflect 99% of the sun's rays?

I like the removeable boat-tail idea.

Given the amount of stuff I get up to, and the fact I'm trans, I'm not going to do that, bad things happen to people like me in jail so I *really* don't want to risk it. Thus, I'm also hamstrug by this project having to stick to stuff that's road legal in both the US and MX.

Part of the reason to be able to drop the boattail is because there are times I want my car to blend in. Like when trying to shake a tail.

[freebeard]

Like when trying to shake a tail.

Explosive bolts?

If the boat tail held the spare horizontally at bumper height, it might serve as rear impact protection.

If the white was a Larry Watson-style panel, it might make your car look too much like a low rider. Use PlastiDip. It peels right off.

[H-Man]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Explosive bolts?

If the boat tail held the spare horizontally at bumper height, it might serve as rear impact protection.

If the white was a Larry Watson-style panel, it might make your car look too much like a low rider. Use PlastiDip. It peels right off.

I mean, I plan to hitch mount it. Wouldn't need an explosive bolt, just rig up the hitch for quick release or more realistically: When I'm doing stuff where this is a risk, run without aeromods.

[Phase]

if you care about max heat rejection, youd get rid of the 3m tints and switch to xpel xr plus. its the best on the whole market. its how i get my black car to survive phoenix heat with the ac fans at the lowest possible speed

[H-Man]

Originally Posted by Phase

if you care about max heat rejection, youd get rid of the 3m tints and switch to xpel xr plus. its the best on the whole market. its how i get my black car to survive phoenix heat with the ac fans at the lowest possible speed

I'm already running 3M crystalline and I'm not too keen to spend another 1200 on tint.
Just how much better is Xpel XR plus?
I'm running ceramic 20 in the back, CR70 in the front. Last time I was in phoenix, the car was able to keep the heat under control... OTOH, the main thing I have causing problems is that I need it cold.

[Phase]

Originally Posted by H-Man

I'm already running 3M crystalline and I'm not too keen to spend another 1200 on tint.
Just how much better is Xpel XR plus?
I'm running ceramic 20 in the back, CR70 in the front. Last time I was in phoenix, the car was able to keep the heat under control... OTOH, the main thing I have causing problems is that I need it cold.

I don’t know how much better. I just know it’s better. I had the regular xr but paid for them to remove it a year later and replace the whole car with xr plus. Yeah it was 1200 but worth it for me since I drive so much. I’ll do the same for my next car unless another company releases a better film. I’m def getting a white car next. I literally can’t even touch my car hood to lift it up in direct sunlight