The Dodge Goes Home! Time for the Electricfly!

On Tuesday, December 22, 2010, at 6 P.M. - the Sample Vehicle for my Aerocap, being a leased vehicle, was returned home to the Dealer, and the final payment was made to complete the exit on the Lease!

Unfortunately - that means the Aerocap Project - will be on hold, but one option is to consider placing the existing Aerocap on a Donor Vehicle owned by someone else and work the project with another person (Yet to be determined)!

Living in an Apartment arrangement - has never been the best working arrangement, and in fact - makes most handy projects anything but handy, with the need to never leave a project in work at the end of the day, and no place to work on it out of the sun, wind, and rain, since you have all seen - my parking lot working zone as I progressed on the Aerocap!

The Good thing about this - is now I can focus more on the things needed to do with my 'Electricfly' Electric Firefly or EV (Electric Vehicle) project, and maybe I can use some of the experience from the Aerocap project on the 'electricfly' for aerodynamic cleanup, in the form of wheel covers or skirts, belly pans, nose and tail work on the hatchback all to clean up the apparent drag! Also - the electricfly blog - NoGas96V - will be able to be updated with activity a bit more often, depending on avaialbel time, weather, and energy to work on it - which hopefully will be more soon, due to the constant interest in the car!

Aerocap Gets Naked!

Well, at least the truck was driven without it's Aerocap on it, as I was going to be taking it in to the dealer get some work done on it, and for a few other reasons, the Aerocap came off!

I have not put it back on yet, and I can see the difference in web traffic, since the tailgate has the website address, and without the cap, there is nothing to get peoples attention, and the name 'aerocaps' in the domain name doesn't get anough traction without the cap on!

I did another fill the Tank, drive to Bracebridge and Back, and top it off, Getting a receipt both times, and writing down the ODO and Trip Numbers of both for reference, but I don't have the numbers in front of me just now, but it will be my first trip over this route without the Aerocap for some time!

Also - in Early July, I bought a Kia Soul, so now I have one parking place but Three Vehicles!!! The Dakota, the Sould, and the Electricfly! [ www.electricfly.info ] So, it is time to think - should I hold the Truck, and Continue on the Aerocap and other aero mods, or set that aside, and focus on the Electric Vehicles?!

[ODO = Odometer]

The 1 Litre Car!

On June 12 - 13, 2010, I attended the Newmarket Windfall Ecology Festival, and towed up my electricfly there to represent the Electric Vehicle Society of Canada.

It was quite an interesting show, and I learned a few things about Fleet Vehicle licencing versus personal licensing: More Options!

The Key point of this posting comes to this: My Saturday trip to the show - I towed the electricfly up via Highway 401 - 400, and exited Highway #9 - Davis Drive East, continuing to Eagle Street, and on to the Fairy Lake Park where the Show was held, and where I disconnected and positioned th car for the weekend. I drove home via Mulock and Highway 404 - 410. The Average for the day was at 11.0 Litres per 100 Km!

Sunday - I went up the same was as Saturday,k but returned with the car in tow back the same route, and my daily fuel consumption average was at 10.5 Litres/100 Km!

The average between the two days then as at 10.75 L/100 Km, just under a litre above the Vehicle Rating of 9.8 L/100 Km Highway!

This while maintaining a basic steady speed of 100 KPH, and while towing the electricfly for a total of 150 KMs! Consider that the Electricfly weighs in at 2,000 lbs, and - as a Gas Model - even with the 1.0 Litre, 3-cylinder engine, was rated at 4.5 L/100 Km.!

So the combination of my Dodge Dakota with the Aerocap, and the electricfly in tow - used some 3.5 Litres of fuel less, per 100 Kms., than the two vehicles would have used as gas powered - driving seperately to the show!!

Towing to the Distillery!

This weekend - I had the Electricfly 'In Tow' behind the Aerocap to downtown Toronto (East Side) to the Eco Wheels Show in the Distillery District!

It was there as a reference Vehicle for the presentation of the Electric Vehicle Society of Canada, Along with our Tent, and Banners, as provided by our President - Howard Hutt.

We were positioned by the main entrance gate, and I parked my Aerocap Dakota in the back parking lot.

Over the Course of the two days - over 90 people stoped and asked various question about the vehicle, and took some information home with them!

Honestly speaking - many people might not have been there for the show - as the Eco Wheels Show was held in an active entertainment area, and there were even a couple Weddings there on the Saturday! Also - restaurants and bakeries were popular venues in the district! As Such - we did not have a total focused autdience comeing through the show, so I think we did OK!

Aerocap Gets (to) the Captical!

This Past Saturday, I drove the Dodge Dakota with the Aerocap on it up to Ottawa, and ... I towed the Electricfly the whole way!

Nearly 1,000 Kms for the trip with the Electricfly in tow - and only one casualty - the Magnetic Trailer Lights were blown off somewhere between Odessa, Ontario, at my Gas Stop, and The Ottawa Science Center - where I was taking the Electricfly up to EV EXPO 2010! (Anyone know how to keep the Magnetic base Trailer Lights attached? Or - is there some speed limit not listed on the package?)

The Tow Bar that is for the car - is not really designed for towing with a bumper ball - which is all I have on the truck at this point, since it is still a lease! On tighter corners - there is a bit of touching and chipping of the paint on the bumper at the drop down.

For pictures of the EVent - I will be posting them on my electricfly blog.

AeroCap Does Detroit Auto Show!

Well, at least I drove the AeroCap Truck, my 2008 Dodge Dakota to Detroit to SEE the Detroit - excuse me - North American International Auto Show (NAIAS 2010) this Past Weekend!

The Show seemed to have a whole new Flavour, in part to the Absences, and in large part - to the new players: No Porsche exhibit, just one Ferrari, I saw no Bentley, (might have missed that one), and new - a whole section - Electric Avenue, with a focus on the participants in the Progressive Automotive X-Prize Competition, and new Electric Vehicle Companies exhibiting!

Kokam America - is now Owned by Dow Chemical, showed a booth downstairs beside the EV-Ride Pavilion, and one presenter in the X-Prize Area - SSI Racing - Showed their car powered by A123 Systems 26650M1 Cells!
The Battery Pack was in a Clear Polycarbonate Case for show!

It seemed like the show was almost dominated by either EV's or Hybrids, with a push towards higher end Hybrids, and smaller EV's but also Plug-in Hybrids were hinted at! Even Mercedes had a couple of Hybrids out for show! Nearly 1/3rd of the show seemed to focus in this direction!

I saw no mods, or even variations that were obviously targeted at making Pickups more Aerodynamic, less Blunt or draggy, or even cleaner and tigher in their cheet metal, but I might have missed it if it was there - as I was quite excited about the Electric Avenue portion of the show. Anyone else notice such things at the show for Pickups?