I've been lurking around for a while.

[JakeC]

Hello! My name is Jake, I am currently a student aiming for an associates in PC Support and a bachelors in Web Design. I've lived in northern Indiana all of my life.

I've lurked around this website for a while after somehow stumbling upon Ben Nelson's Electric Metro on Instructables. Ever since then I've been pretty enthralled by the idea of driving an electric vehicle but sadly do not have the space or resources at the moment to try and convert one.

I've done minor mechanical repairs on vehicles that I've owned. I usually end up trying to fix something, breaking it, then I work my way through it until it's "fixed".

I currently drive a 1997 Limited Jeep Grand Cherokee with a 5.2 liter V8. Quite the opposite of fuel efficient, but i was hoping to find some support/help from these forums on ways to get it up to 15 mpg city if not further.

Plans for next summer are to find an engine-less motorcycle, and hopefully be able to convert it to electric. Takes up less space, and seems to be a little bit of an easier build.

I tend to dream big.

[MetroMPG]

I'm sure you know you'll find a contingent of Jeep owners willing to offer specific advice.

Up first: I'd say get instrumentation so you can start monitoring/tweaking your driving.

An e-motorbike sounds like a pretty reasonable sized goal for someone looking to try their hand at a conversion.

Welcome to the site.

[endurance]

Welcome. As mentioned, there are other Jeepers and SUV drivers on the forum and there are always ways to make the best of what you have. From my experience, just tweaking your driving technique by learning from a ScanGauge or UltraGauge can typically yield a 20-50% improvement in your MPG depending on how far you are willing to change your driving technique. My mantra is to keep re-reading the 101+ Hypermiling techniques. Everytime I read them I find something new to try or some little adjustment to my technique and I gain something from it.

[JakeC]

Thanks for the warm welcome.
I plan on purchasing a scanguage as a christmas present for myself this year. Next spring i will be traveling about an hour a week to school in outlying cities, so I should be able to get some pretty good readings from those trips for highway mileage. I've recently been broke, so I've also been driving the correct speed limit or a little bit under to try and make every drop last as long as possible, as well as decreasing the use of the brake pedal. Not flying around corners, but making sure that i decrease speed before the turn is coming up.

[dday]

Welcome! This is a great place to lurk as well as ask for help. Everyone here is very helpful! I got the ScanGauge II I have run about three tanks with it in my 04 F150 and have noticed a big difference in my driving. Now I scream at people when they are using their brakes when we all could be coasting. I am sure there are some great Jeep people on here that can help you. An Electric motorcycle will be a great first project.