Prius C: thinking of developing a "70 mpg aerodynamics kit"...

[drmiller100]

I think there is a market out there for something similar to what you are doing.

But I'm an inventor, so I have fun making ONE of something, then wandering on to new and novel things.
Want fuel for 55 cents a gallon? Btdt.
Want to make your own ethanol at the rate of 50 gallons a day? Btdt.
want a 75 mpg car? Working on it.

The aerocivic and be improved upon. Will take some testing though.

[mcrews]

Originally Posted by cfg83

mcrews -



Hmmm. At first when I read your statement something didn't sound right. From my POV the aesthetics market is far bigger than the MPG market, at least for the non-business driving population.

After re-reading it I see your distinction. I guess I wouldn't compare "want" to "modify". I would argue that the population that is willing to modify their car for MPG is much lower than the population that is willing to modify their car for aesthetic purposes.

CarloSW2

sorry, my fault. I meant it all in the context of better mpg. the 'big set' is people who want better mpg.
Then there is a subset (much smaller) who are willing to make 'visual mods' for better mpg.
My point was that (imho) the potential buyers for a visually modified car is pretty small.
And of that subset, a lot of them are diy:
a) make it themself cheap
b) buy it and put it on themselves

[cyclopathic]

Originally Posted by todayican

I am excited to be picking up my Habenero Prius c tomorrow and have been doing some thinking...

I build custom trikes and have access to a pretty good fiberglass guy and what not so just how hard (possible?) would it be to do a "package" possibly including disc style hubcaps, grill block, lower front air dam, and either a kammback or possibly even "storage enhancing boat tail"

Think 70 mpg with the air on at 65mph is a reasonable goal for the masses to achieve?
Tom

So any luck with this one?

Originally Posted by F8L

I think with the right design it is totally possible. There are more than a few people who are totally new to Prius and they are posting 60mpg tanks or at least long trips. That is impressive for a brand new car with new tires and a new driver!

I seriously doubt. "C" aerodynamics are much worse than Toyota is saying. I have observed fuel economy of 38-39MPG in ECO mode on flat wind protected interstate (no drafting) and cruise control set at 73MPH. This is not instant consumption, calculated 1.5-2hr run. And this is ECU calculated, so the real MPG even worse.

Regular Prius gets 6-8MPG better than C in similar conditions.

[freebeard]

I would also be interested in the result.

todayican's last post was on 06-19-2014.

[Xist]

What would be the ROI on a 70 MPG kit?

[vskid3]

Originally Posted by Xist

What would be the ROI on a 70 MPG kit?

At $1000, it would take 58k miles at $3 a gallon (longer if gas is cheaper) for gas if it took 50MPG to 70MPG. 116k miles for the $2000 estimate. There's a reason DIY and coroplast are the most common methods of modding.

[basjoos]

The easiest way to see if 70mpg is possible at 65 mph in a Prius C is to see what the instantaneous mpg gauge shows when you are drafting someone, since that is the car's aeromodding potential. When drafting, the only thing that has changed is the aero drag (rolling resistiance, drivetrain losses, etc, are unchanged) which is what you are reducing by aeromodding.

[cyclopathic]

Originally Posted by basjoos

The easiest way to see if 70mpg is possible at 65 mph in a Prius C is to see what the instantaneous mpg gauge shows when you are drafting someone, since that is the car's aeromodding potential. When drafting, the only thing that has changed is the aero drag (rolling resistiance, drivetrain losses, etc, are unchanged) which is what you are reducing by aeromodding.

I do not think 70MPG is possible, but 65 should be. After observing C for a while with TorquePro I came to following conclusions:
1) C engine was optimized for higher efficiency than Gen2, and sweet spot is below 2k
2) the aerodynamics of C are worse than Toyota say. CD is definitely worse than .28

I just installed VGs to see if they show any improvement at 73mph. Grill was partly blocked, not sure what else to try. I suppose could do sides if roof shows any improvement.

[freebeard]

What kind of mileage do you get when drafting, per basjoos' suggestion?

Have you made a full Mooncraft-style body kit?

[BabyDiesel]

Originally Posted by cyclopathic

2) the aerodynamics of C are worse than Toyota say. CD is definitely worse than .28

I would not say this, but that it is highly likely that the Cd is greater than 0.28. If you can perform coastdown testing per Instructables.com, then we could find out for sure and settle this

The C's Cd 0.28 would match the Mitsu Mirage, and they look similar IMO