Where Did 84 Mpg Come From?

[EZ]

FYI

I was 24 years old

ski bum

waiter and bartender

i made a conscious decision to not have kids , just DOGS !

so I was able to go back to school, get my degree in Aeronautical Engineering, get my Pilot Ratings, and get hired by American Airlines ..

the rest was just following the steps in front of me

every time there was an opening somewhere in the system for Captain in a bigger jet, I would go back to training for three months .. then commute to work .

we were paid BY THE MINUTE BASED ON THE WEIGHT OF THE JET !

big jet international override all nighters got you max pay, and with it bigger company contribution into my pension

we all pick a path to go down ..

THE ONLY THING THAT REALLY MATTERS IS YOUR HEALTH !

 

[AriLea]

and get hired by American Airlines ..

Standby flight privileges don't hurt either! Do you ever go through your new Phoenix hub, now after the merger? :-)

 

[EZ]

no

I have 15 dogs (ya 15)



difficult to travel much

Miami Airport has two FREE parking lots for motorcycles !! right down by baggage claim !

So I fly over, go down the escalator, out the door, across the road

get on a TW200 I leave there wrapped in a tarp

I had 50 acres left in Vermont but Mr. IRS decided they needed it more than me, so they took it and sold it and kept ALL THE $$

bastards …

I had owned that land for 45 years !!

there is not much better out there than right here on St John !

3/4 a National Park

no traffic

no pollution

roads go from sea level up to 2000' then back down

25 mph speed limits

really does not matter anymore where I live, so long as I can have a cold beer, afternoon nap, 8 hrs sleep at night

life is good

 

[Darren Cruse]

Rewinding to the beginning of this (old) thread where (paraphrasing) the OP was questioning that the goal of 84mpg seemed arbitrary so why waste time pursuing an arbitrary mpg target why not be happy with a slightly lower number why waste time and money "tweaking" to get to the 84mpg goal.

I'd had a somewhat similar thought but with an almost opposite conclusion - I was remembering that the automotive X prize set the goal of a mass producible car that did *100 mpg*.

You could argue that "100" was a likewise arbitrary number - but I don't think it's *psychologically* arbitrary - I think "100" is kind of a easy to remember number which for marketing purposes would be more impressive (if it were possible?). i.e. It's a little easier for me to imagine somebody excitedly saying "wow did you see that three wheeled elio car did you know it gets *100* miles per gallon!!" than "wow did you see that three wheeled elio car did you know it gets 84 miles per gallon".

(or maybe I'm wrong - as I write that I guess 84 does sound impressive too)

My real comment/question in writing the above is for you mechanically savvy people on this forum: Could there have been any way to achieve 100mpg with the Elio?

I guess I imagine generally (from freshmen physics!) the ways you might achieve 100mpg would be: a. reduce weight, b. improve aerodynamics, c. reduce friction? (within the vehicle and/or "rolling resistance" with the road?), d. improve the efficiency of the engine... any others?

And final thought - I know so little about engines but I'd noted this three wheeled vehicle somewhat like the elio that did enter the automotive x-prize claimed to use a "fuel vapor" engine - could something similar help raise the mpg of the elio to 100+ mpg I wonder?

http://www.ridelust.com/fuel-vapor-ale-gets-92mpg-car-with-a-5-second-zero-to-sixty/

 

[Darren Cruse]

whoops reading this thread closer I see the "Fuel Vapor Technologies" idea was touched on already: http://www.elioowners.com/threads/where-did-84-mpg-come-from.1413/page-30#post-36879

 

[Ekh]

The fuel vapor guy was doing ok til a fire burned out EVERYTHING. Elio shoukd look at it.

 

[acamara]

Would be nice to see how close to 84 mpg the Elio can go once road testing can commence

 

[outsydthebox]

Rewinding to the beginning of this (old) thread where (paraphrasing) the OP was questioning that the goal of 84mpg seemed arbitrary so why waste time pursuing an arbitrary mpg target why not be happy with a slightly lower number why waste time and money "tweaking" to get to the 84mpg goal.

I'd had a somewhat similar thought but with an almost opposite conclusion - I was remembering that the automotive X prize set the goal of a mass producible car that did *100 mpg*.

You could argue that "100" was a likewise arbitrary number - but I don't think it's *psychologically* arbitrary - I think "100" is kind of a easy to remember number which for marketing purposes would be more impressive (if it were possible?). i.e. It's a little easier for me to imagine somebody excitedly saying "wow did you see that three wheeled elio car did you know it gets *100* miles per gallon!!" than "wow did you see that three wheeled elio car did you know it gets 84 miles per gallon".

(or maybe I'm wrong - as I write that I guess 84 does sound impressive too)

My real comment/question in writing the above is for you mechanically savvy people on this forum: Could there have been any way to achieve 100mpg with the Elio?

I guess I imagine generally (from freshmen physics!) the ways you might achieve 100mpg would be: a. reduce weight, b. improve aerodynamics, c. reduce friction? (within the vehicle and/or "rolling resistance" with the road?), d. improve the efficiency of the engine... any others?

And final thought - I know so little about engines but I'd noted this three wheeled vehicle somewhat like the elio that did enter the automotive x-prize claimed to use a "fuel vapor" engine - could something similar help raise the mpg of the elio to 100+ mpg I wonder?

http://www.ridelust.com/fuel-vapor-ale-gets-92mpg-car-with-a-5-second-zero-to-sixty/

I think PE's goal was to qualify for the 75mpg (minimum) in order to be eligible for the Atvm loan. "But" If the Elio "only" achieved 75mpg, the naysayers would be pushing for verification. Or claiming "the tests were fixed" or some such argument. So, to actually beat that number by 12% would tend to silence many of them.

I don't know if this explanation is based on actual facts, but it sounds good to me!

 

[W. WIllie]

Why do you think they changed the ads from "84 MPG" to "up to 84 MPG".
To make their claims more realistic for the average driver.
It's called being a "hypermiler".
On paper it always looks good.
In reality we won't know..............until the road testing is done.

Willie

 

[Coss]

Why do you think they changed the ads from "84 MPG" to "up to 84 MPG".
To make their claims more realistic for the average driver.
It's called being a "hypermiler".
On paper it always looks good.
In reality we won't know..............until the road testing is done.

Willie

The 84mpg is not by "hypermiling", it is the calculated / projected Highway mileage, the city mileage is figured to be around 49mpg.
In some early, non scientific mileage checking they have gotten to 81mpg.