Here’s what we have observed so far:
- Better gas mileage. With six of the current little electronics packages in place across free-flowing air (we ran with 14 at peak, do see the Progression ), mileage improvement of 2.8% was measured in a repeated 20-mile run. We have a better setup in place now, hard numbers will be produced shortly.
- Much better starting and running in very cold weather. This project started in the middle of a very cold winter (in Topeka, Kansas, USA, it can get to minus 20 F / -29 C some years, and that’s before wind chill), and my ’98 Tahoe was struggling a bit. This year on New Year’s Day the temperature went down to 10 F (-12 C), and that’s cold enough, and she started up just fine in the morning (Jan 2, at 5 F, -15 C). The coldest so far (it’s now Jan 22) has been 7 F (-13 C), and starting and running has been marvelous.
- Better power underfoot. Hard to quantify without a dynamometer; the nearest appears to be 85 miles from here and quite expensive to hire! Perhaps sometime.
- Cooler running in summer. This is taken from observations of temperature gauge in one vehicle, and reduction in overheating in another!