Texas Trip 80 MPH Record MPG Runs
 

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From Friday April 10th to Sunday April 12th 2015 I traveled to Monahans Texas from Las Cruces, NM to meet Phil Knox at the Sandhills Park there where we camped. The trip gave me a great opportunity to do mpg testing on the Ford F-150 EcoBoost 4x4 with the aerolid and boat tail.

The outbound trip leg was 287.9 miles using 15.206 gallons of gas for 18.933 mpg average. The return leg was 286.6 miles using 15.105 gallons for a 19.04 mpg average. The combined figures are 575.5 miles using 30.11 gallons for a combined average of 18.986 mpg.

My best run was Fabens to Van Horn outbound 89.2 miles/4.691 gallons at 19.01 mpg. I returned higher numbers on the trip but none at these speeds. I did 15 miles at 75 mph and 74 miles at 80 mph for a combined average of 79.15 mph over the 89 miles. I was traveling WSW and the winds were light at 4 mph out of the NE. This amounts to average air speed of 83 mph. These are actual pumped values.

In testing with Phil Knox recording we could pull 17.2 MPG at 80 MPH without the boat tail mounted using the Aerolid only. The truck naked has a historical data point of 15.1 mpg at 80 mph. This is a 12.2 % improvement of the Truck Naked/Truck + Aerolid. I tested out at 19.2 mpg at 80 mph on the inbound leg on the same road surface with the Boat Tail included. That is a 10.4 % improvement of the Aerolid only. The Truck Naked v Aerolid + Boat Tail is 21.36 improvement.

My highest MPG return at 80 mph with both appliances was 20.1 mpg on level ground which is a 25.25 % improvement over the truck naked. However the test conditions were not comparable. I think we can say with a high degree of confidence that the Aerolid is a 12% improvement and the Boat Tail adds another 8% to that figure for a total 20% improvement. This testing was done at 70 F at 3,950 ft of elevation.

The record return of 20.1 mpg at 80 mph means the truck is using only 48.5 RHP to travel at this speed on level ground. As much a 30 RHP of this is being used to overcome rolling resistance. That leaves only 18.5 RHP being used to overcome aerodynamic forces. Even the 19.2 mpg figure only translates to 2 more RHP meaning only 20.5 RHP is needed to overcome the aerodynamic forces.

The photo above was taken the evening before I left for the trip and shows the truck with the Aerolid and Boat Tail. My son in law Mario is standing beside the truck after helping me mount the Boat Tail.

Addendum I used a trailer level mounted to the passenger door. Used in conjunction with the elevation read out from a GPS unit it is a very accurate way to indicate when you are on level ground. I will post a picture of this new instrumentation later.

And there I was, in my 625-HP 3.8-mpg Peterbilt ratcheting my way through the last two splits and a gear change when I glance at the mirror to see left lane traffic westbound, and I think (seeing a truck front grill), "Hey, I recognize that trans can lid!"

Talk about surprised.

Saw 29-mpg on the return today from shopping in the Dodge one-ton. That would be 28 corrected and about 27 for the round trip from Odessa back to Monahans (where I just relocated).

IH-10 is a lot more peaceful.


Pardon the interruption, and congrats on the numbers. Hard to believe any pickup can get into double digits at high speeds. Mine was at 67-68/mph as I'm testing for best traffic pattern speed.

Sorry we did not see you? Went around a lot of trucks. Had more then a few oil patch workers blow by me at 85 or 90 mph.You know they were in the low teens mpgs and just did not care. I may take a short trip next week at 65 mph top speed and see what that does to my mpg numbers.

nice job!
Great details!

ps.....good lookin dog!!

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Here is the level I attached to the passenger door of the truck. I need to find a parking lot and take a six foot level with me to find a level spot where I can park the truck then I can calibrate this level. I know where level is on the level now but it is not a TDC. As shown the truck is about one half bubble nose down while parked in the driveway.

That's a great idea, but where will you put the 6' level? Maybe the tops of the tires?

An alternative would be to pick an arbitrary parking spot and then park facing both ways and split the difference.

No, I will find a level place and mark the pavement with a piece of tape and park as close as possible. A 8 ft 24 with cleats and a smaller level in center may work better. I need to measure my wheel to wheel distance to do it right.

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My amended graph of composite MPG's since I bought the truck on Sept 17th 2014. My trip to Monahans on the far right brought up the composite averages even though much of the trip was at 75 MPH and 80 MPH. The warmer weather helps although you can see two other peaks that are the result of short trips. A 220 mile round trip to City of Rocks State Park next Saturday (the 18th) at a more pedestrian average of 65 MPG should net me a much higher peak then any of the three you see here.

Nice work! I had guessed similar appliances would add roughly 7-8mpg to my current setup. If your %'s hold that will be the case :)

My truck naked came with a rating of 15/21/17. Based on the data I have obtained so far with the aerolid I would assign a value of 15/23/18 for the truck with the aerolid only. The boat tail added would bring this figure up to 15/25/19. These are rounded down numbers but if I were to put stickers on these appliances that is what I would put.

MPG Testing Uphill Both Ways : EV WORLD.COM [1319]

This is a link to my Ev World blog about the mpg testing trip to Monahans,Texas and back to Radium Springs. The posting above is about the same trip.