Quote:
Originally Posted by David Beale
Nice analysis Bob. Next step is to compare the money saved on gas vs the money spent on electricity. Perhaps some way to compare CO2 emissions plugged in and not plugged in as well. This is becoming the dominant factor.
|
Thanks! It has already paid a dividend. This morning with 45F, I didn't bother to plug in the block heater. It took 1.7 miles at 25.4 MPG to reach 70C but after resetting the display, the remaining 8.8 miles came in at 64 MPG. It would have been higher but I stopped for a bite of breakfast.
For now, I'm less worried about the CO(2) emissions as much as my expenses. My next objective is to quantify the transaxle heating effect by observation and analysis. Due to the substantially lower rate of warm-up, I suspect an oil pan heater will pay bigger dividends than the block heater and useful over a larger temperature range. The UT Battelle report on Prius transaxles gave me my first clues.
Eventually, I may have an NHW11 that 'plugs in' when I park and with a smarter block heater, transaxle pan heater and traction battery 'topping' be pretty efficient, year round. Then if I can recover more of the exhaust heat, heck, I may have to change my vanity plate from C-52MPG to C-53MPG or possibly higher. <grins>
One of the nice things I'm finding is many of these techniques apply to any of the Toyota/Ford hybrid systems. This potentially means the base performance of a substantial family of hybrids might be substantially improved.
Bob Wilson