Hyundai Sonata - Active grill block
 

The upcoming Sonata has some interesting ideas for increasing MPGs. I had not thought of having an active front grill block before, but it seems like a great idea.

Quote from article:

"Hyundai says that the Sonata Hybrid is good for 36 miles per gallon in the city and 40 mpg on the highway, and the high-tech battery pack is only a portion of that story. The company's engineers have also rolled in a host of tricks to keep the fuel-economy numbers as high as possible, including what they call an "active air flap" behind that gaping hexagonal inlet in the front fascia. At low speeds, the flap is open to assist in cooling the gas engine, but once the vehicle speeds up, the flap closes to decrease the Sonata Hybrid's coefficient of drag by as much as 10 percent."

Linky

"And what does all of that translate into once on the road? During our time behind the wheel, we saw just over 36 mpg in intermittent stop and go driving, though if you're ginger with the accelerator, numbers closer to 40 in combined driving weren't unheard of among the gaggle of writers the company had out to sample the Sonata Hybrid. Just out of morbid curiosity, we spent the last 30 miles of our drive hypermiling the hybrid. When all was said and done, we walked away with a sweaty 60 mpg, further proving that by and large, fuel economy falls on the shoulders of the nut behind the wheel."

nice looking car.

If the reporters got 60 MPG with no practice hypermileing the car one of us should get 65-70 MPG :)

Hello -

What impresses me is that this is a mid-size car. Is it easy to get 60 MPG in a Camry Hybrid?

CarloSW2

I should think so. The car has my attention, but I won't buy 'em new. Can't wait to hear from the early adopters.

However, one reviewer said the car is "as grocery getter as you can get". But, some people derive pleasure from speed and handling performance, and others derive satisfaction from MPG performance. Me- I like both.

...nice candy-apple red exterior paint finish!

I don't know how easy it is but it should be possible. A Ford Fusion Hybrid was hypermiled to 80 mpg.

This is only my third post so I can't provide the link.

I thought....
 

D(future)H & I were reading the R&D story about the Sonata Hybrid last night & he read about the active grill blocking & for some reason I thought I had read another vehicle had the same sort of active flap that the sonata hybrid does, but I can't find it anywhere....Am I crazy or?? :)

the Cheviot cruse has one too. My car has one too but that is home made :)

Thank you!!! I knew I wasn't crazy :) I believe I read about it on Clean MPG the first time. :)

Glad to help!
I see you are new so welcome to EM!
Check out the wiki for cool mods and user data:
Car MPG Efficiency Modifications Main - EcoModder

where in WV are you? I drove through there on Fri and Tuesday.

BMW has been doing this for like 5 years now. Its nice to see some of the other auto makers are finally catching on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8gYxX7XDk4

:D. I am in Mercer Co. WV, on the VA border

...I recognized the Icelandic landscape (and waterfalls) in the Hydrogen 7 clip.

...Iceland sits on top of a rift between and American and European plates, and has literally "tonnes" of geothermal energy from which to generate electricity, which they use to dissocate water into H2 and O2...

...Iceland is leading the world in use of H2 powered vehicles...all their buses, etc.

...the Hindenburg be damned (ha,ha)!

You home-brewed an active grill block? How did you do this? Now I'm thinking I should design something for my Acura using a servo or something. Realistically I should probably just use a static block.

With our ever-increasing skill at drilling, I wonder if we can ever dig deep enough to tap into this energy here. Maybe someday instead of drilling for oil, the companies will be drilling for heat.

Here is what I did:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ose-14328.html

Doax has done a fully auto grill block. Mine is opened and closed with a switch.

I'll have to read this thread all the way through when I get more time, thanks for the link! So is it imperative to monitor engine temp, or is coolant temp a reliable way to monitor things?

If I got really ambitious and had some time, I'd want to build a carputer and have it actively adjust the grill block. I can dream, I can dream.

I use engine and coolant temp interchangeably. On my SG I watch the air intake and water temp.