Pickup Aerocaps - or - Boat Tails for any Vehicle!

While this Blog Project was designed to follow my 2008 Dodge Dakota Pickup Aerocap efforts, the Truck was leased and has been returned to the Dealer, but the thoughts are still relevant and might well be applied to either my 2004 Prius, or my 2010 Kia SOUL!

Much of these thoughts are discussed as an introduction in My Prius Blog Post from today!

Not likely much will progress on this soon though, lot of other things to clear off my plate to get time for this type of stuff again! Having no personal yard, driveway, or shop, also makes such projects a bit tricky to work on in a parking lot!

7 Day Sale on EV Fest 2014 Tickets!

I have opened up a special Discount for those who act quickly - and buy their EV Fest 2014  Tickets online before June 7th, 2014 at Midnight!

In celebrating the Exhibitors who have committed to exhibit at EV Fest 2014 - I am giving 1% off for Each Exhibitor Registered! 

Want a Higher Discount? Encourage others to register in this last week - Here are the choices: https://evfest2014-exhibitors.eventbrite.ca/ 

See my announcement here: 

"Over 22 Register #EVFest2014 Exhibitors (Some have multiple Exhibit Registrations!) http://bit.ly/1tyNl31"

Just use code "22Exhibitors" to get your discount - or use This Link to go directly to the ticket ordering page with the discount applied!

Other Aerodynamic Opportunities

While the AeroCap is the focal point of this blog, and I am currently missing the core vehicle, there are other significant things that can be done to increase aerodynamics and reduce drag!

As found on Recumbents.com - things like Lowering the Vehicle - particularly with Ride-Height Adjustable Suspension systems that can allow the vehicle to particularly be lowered at speed, can result in improvements in aerodynamic drag - as much as 3% under the right conditions.

Underside Clean-Up - not a car wash - but an aerodynamic Clean-Up, or a full 'Body Pan' can also provide a significant improvement in Aerodynamic improvement - particularly when combined with Vehicle Lowering Activities. Make it designed for critical access areas having their own 'Inspection Doors' cut into it, with flush closing connectors.

Obviously - things out in the air spinning make drag too - so an easy addition - is to fair the Rear Wheels (Easier than the front ones, for sure), using both smooth Hub-Caps (Pizza Pans, or shallow domed style wheel covers, called - 'Racing Disks'), and Rear Wheel Well Skirts.

Rear Ends of the vehicle can also be cleaned up with a large 'Boat Tail' - or even a small one, and sometimes - a new custom 'Air Ejector' Spoiler can do a great job! Obviously - a 15% Improvement  in fuel economy for a truck is great - what about a 15% improvement in Fuel Efficiency Boost!

Other items to consider (Removing) - Tall Whip Antenna's, Side View Mirrors (Replace with Side View Camera/Monitor setup), Roof Racks, or any other not used appendage in your current vehicle. Also - Blocking excess air flow inlets - to allow the vehicle to run warmer - and use less cooling air (Drag).

Other items that  could be added in - include - improved Front Air Dams (To keep our airflow from under the vehicle), Hood Fairings (to smooth airflow to the windshield), and Side Fairings (to control turbulent vehicle side air flows).

To Really clean up your Vehicles Cd (Coefficient of Drag), combining all of the above elements and tuning them so the work well together - is part of the secret this Japanese Project used - to get twice the distance on the same Energy of a current 'Normal' vehicle:
Bizarre-looking Japanese EV is most aerodynamic production vehicle ever.

Here are some more Tips on making your vehicle more aerodynamic -
How to Make Your Car More Aerodynamic.

Special Vortex generators can also be used to control airflow!

Also - there are other things beside Aerodynamics improvements to reduce Gasoline (or Diesel) Consumption on your vehicle, see: 22 Ways to Make Your Car More Fuel Efficient.

Who is looking for this Aero Cap information?

Since I set up this blog, People coming to this blog - more times are refered here from the posts and stories in www.EcoModder.com, - actualy 3 of the top 10 referrers are from there, beat only from traffic coming from my aerocaps websites - www.aerocaps.info + http://www.aerocaps.com/

I just discovered a Dodge Dakota Forum - (from the ads on this site) and had a peek there - http://www.dakotaforumz.com! Maybe I should put a few notes in there for reference, and to inquire as to if there is any interest in such a project as this, maybe post some links to the ecomodder projects with such trucks, etc.

The Top Keywords used to find this blog (outside of a direct entry of: aerocap.blogspot.com) are - aerocap, aero mod, truck aerocap, aero cap, geo metro aero mods, aero cap truck, aeromod, 2008 dodge dakota mods, and finally - aerodynamic mods! Not all these links found my site or this blog at the first page every time, but they eventually lead here!

United States is the highest source of traffic to the blog, about 8X as much as from Canada, which is even beat by traffic to it from Russia! There is also traffic here from Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Slovenia, Brazil, France, and even Israel!

From a basic glance at these stats, this tells me that these are the top countries with interest in this subject matter that have made it do this blog! Could also be an indication of people in general in the same countries with an interest in the general subject of improving vehicle aerodynamics!

If you follow any of the links in those I provided in the Keywords paragraph above - you will have seen there are many activities in this area of interest!

Aerodynamic Projects, besides mine!

I just added My own blog List in the left column, and will also say - Come check out Lily's Watercolor Paintings, and Electric Avenue for my next event!

In other thoughts, for those who have not heard of them - there is the very excellent site for people doing and reporting on projects of an Aerodynamic Modification nature: EcoModder.

They are currently listing these projects on their home page:
Streamlining the Civic (2005 Civic EX coupe)
David's 2001 Civic EV (80-100 mile range; 65+ MPH; 8 second 0-60)
CRX HF reverse trike project
Project: The Anal Probe
Aero RV (custom boat tail for '95 Ford E-350 Class C motorhome)
Project Land Yacht (BMW 5-series EV conversion) 
Tall tire test (taller gearing advantage offset by wider, heavier wheels/tires?)
AirFlow BulletTruck Project (aerodynamic, modified Class 8 transport doubles MPG)* Nice!
Lean burn Honda Civic sedan: 93 Civic d15z1 swap into LX 4 door (VLX)
Aerodynamic streamline template - online tool (view streamlined extension on any car)
CarBEN EV5 Full Sized Prototype Construction - 5 Seat Electric Car From Scratch
Echo-Troll Modding Thread (2005 Toyota Echo)
and so many more - plus this one -
Project - Extended Pop-Top Aerodynamic Camper Shell ('99 Tacoma)
 - Closer than the others to relevance to my project for the AeroCaps!

For full coverage - start right at their home page - EcoModder. That way you won't miss their updates!

AeroCaps Project On Hold - but ideas still in mind!

While the Project itself is sitting on the back burner for now - the idea of Vehicle Aero-Dynamic performance improvements is still active.

The Concepts for the Aero Cap included Wheel Skirts, Belly Skins, Intake Air Flow Control, and additional shapes. It also involves ideas that can be applied to Cars and Hatchbacks.

While I am busy organizing EV Fest 2012 Electric Vehicle Show, and working on My Electricfly, I also have other activities involved with Energy and Communications I am working on with my wife, and August Should be productive for those things as well!

Anyone interested in Reducing the unknowns and stabilizing Their Energy Costs for Home or Small Business,  or saving money while trying a new service as a bonus, contact me via the contact information at EV Fest 2012!