Larry (L.A.) Johnson, Shakey Pictures Producer and a Champion of Lincvolt passed away January 21, 2010.
I'm saddened to hear the news and extend my sincere condolences to family and friends. I had the opportunity to work a bit with Larry on the Lincvolt project. It was obvious he was behind Lincvolt 100% and was always prepared to dig in and make something great happen. I've also enjoyed his work with Neil and Shakey Pictures, musically and visually, for decades.
Thanks for all you've done, Larry. Your work changed my mood for the better, many times over the years. I've always been able to count on that. In fact, I'm off to watch some things you've done right now.
Rest in Peace, Larry. I'll miss you asking how my mileage is doing.
Takin' a trip across I O A
Gonna see some corn pickers along the way
It's harvest time
Yup. I haven't made a trip outside the daily commute in the car since summer. This will be 300 miles or so, round trip. Hoping for 70+ MPG. Car is clean and ready, tires at 48.5 PSI. Playlist for today is Fork In The Road and Year of The Horse. You can't beat Big Time for road music. Should be a nice ride across Iowa to a meeting. Farmers are getting their crops out now. It's always cool to see a string of unlike Combines going down a road. It means farmers are working together to get each others crops out while the weather is right.
Anyway, I'm out!
Update: Pretty much blew out my mileage. I left late and ended up running 75 much of the way out. Trip average was still 63.4 MPG. Return trip was interesting. I stopped by a place I've driven by a hundred times. Never had time to stop until yesterday. I learned that it's official name is "Old Cars on the Hill", which is fitting, but I failed to photograph their sign. It's a farm and home of a collector in Iowa, visible from Interstate 80. A couple quick phone pics follow. Very cool place. The owner was out working in the fields but the nice lady in the house let me look around. It's peaceful walking among old iron. If only these cars could talk.
Latest Lincvolt update... here's a chunk from the 10/16 video stream.
- Lincvolt Photo Wall: Currently updating throughout the day.
- Next live Ustream feed: Unknown
- Webcam: UP (View a larger image.)
- (10/16/2009) -- We had a live video feed from Roy Brizio's shop on Friday afternoon. Neil, Crackle, Larry, Uli, Vic the tuner, and others were there. It was great to see everyone in the garage again. The Haltech ECU has been removed and Lincvolt's rotary is now sporting a turbocharger to up compression. Uli and Vic are planning to make the turbo boost variable. Testing Uli's homebrew E-85 fuel on an engine stand run with engine dyno.
I just returned from HybridFest. Met some great people there. Threw some ideas around. Talked with Hobbit, who was living in his car at the local campground for the weekend. Very interesting, inquisitive and smart guy. His car is a real testbed.
I enjoyed a session presented by Ford Hybrid Engineering Team leader, Praveen Cherian, and Wayne Gerdes from over at CleanMPG.com. Seems to me Ford is stepping up and getting it right. The new cars will auto-stop up to 45mph and the dash presentation rocks. Great info for drivers and you can set the display to as much or little info as you want. I'm seriously thinking about some Ford stock.
I wasn't able to arrive early enough on Friday to participate in the MPG Challenge but I'll post the results below. Congrats to all who participated.
My personal challenge was to do the trip on without fueling the car, which was a success -- although I think it made my wife a little nervous toward the end. :) This was a 605 mile round trip through Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa -- 2 people in the car, suitcases, laptop, cooler, binoculars (our first night was a concert in Chicago), photo gear, bag chairs -- a pretty good load of common road trip stuff. But a nice comfortable ride using the A/C in econ mode about 30% the time and tires at 46 lbs. The Insight took 9.6 gallons when I returned home for just over 63 MPG average on the trip.
Hobbit demo'd a CFL bulb powered by his Prius all weekend. You can see its reflection in the pic below but I was actually shooting his "Go Around" message in the rear window. :)
I had the opportunity to talk a while with Matt Kelly from NextGearGreen.com. He noticed my Lincvolt shirt and we chatted a bit about the car. (Note to Mr Shakey, Matt is based in LA, and very interested in Lincvolt. He'd love to talk with you.) So Matt was filming and I promised to post some of his work here. Follows is a segment he shot of Wayne Gerdes, talking about how he and his team were able to squeeze over 1400 miles out of a tank of fuel in the Ford Fusion Hybrid. That's 80+ MPG, folks! Wayne's presentation was great and I was very impressed with the Ford engineer who preceded him, telling us about the improvements to the car and Ford's commitment to making their vehicles more efficient. He pointed out that in the past, an engineer needed to present a 10% improvement get get anyone's attention at the top. Now they're looking at all the 1 percent ideas. That's progress! I was signed up to test drive the new Fusion Hybrid but it didn't work out so I'll be visiting my dealer. They've really made some nice MPG improvements on this model. Because of this presentation, Ford has my attention. Their new regenerative braking is so efficient, you're seldom even getting into the brake pads. Thanks Ford, for your presence and support of HybridFest, for listening, and for your commitment to making more efficient vehicles! Heeeere's Wayne...
Here's another clip from Matt Kelly, talking with Fords Hybrid Team leader Praveen Cherian about their new improvements. I was really impressed with Mr. Cherian. Matt provides some excellent documentation and links here. Great reporting, Matt!
In the event you were in Madison and are trying to put a name with a face or a website with a car, this is my Insight.
From Lincvolt Gazzette (7/6/09):
"We have withdrawn Lincvolt from the X-Prize because of the conflict between providing the energy and resources required to develop a viable business plan for the Lincvolt technology, a requirement for X-Prize contestants, versus providing the resources and time required to focus on our main goal.
The development of Lincvolt technology is ongoing. We have always been in a race against Time, not a race against other contestants to win a cash prize.
The Goodwin Young team thanks the X-Prize for the valuable support they provided during the last year. Good luck to all of the contestants!"
Here at MQ HQ, we prefer low mileage vegetables. It's fun and rewarding to grow some of your own food in containers and raised bed gardens. I mean, why eat vegetables that have ridden in a truck for 1500 miles if you don't need to? Here's a shot of our main garden getting started this spring. These vegetables are walked about 75 feet to the kitchen (some are eaten along the way) and use no fuel in the process -- and they're delicious! No long truck ride, no trip to the store, no funky fumigation in a trailer to preserve freshness. It's all good.
Learn about the fun of raised bed gardening. Grow some of your own food, visit a local Farmers Market or join a CSA and save some more fuel in the process.
MQ
I just returned from a trip to Chicago -- a fun and comfortable drive in the '04 Insight. Nimble in the city and perfectly comfortable on the Interstate. I'm 6'1" and can extend my legs out completely straight in front when I need a stretch. All I needed to do was get myself, my laptop, projector and an overnight bag to and fro. Turned out my son had purchased an RX8 wheel from a guy in Chicago, so to save some unnecessary shipping, I picked that up while I was there. (All credit to the seller, he delivered it to my hotel) Anyway... nice trip. 342 miles total, averaging 69.5 MPG. I really wanted 70+ but the prairie headwind on the return trip wasn't going to let that happen. Top speed was 77.2 MPH. I ran about 63 most of the way. Used 4.5 gallons of gas. That would have taken about 17 gallons in my mini van. Hey OPEC, you can keep the other 12 gallons of gas. I love this car. And yes, the Fork In The Road album is a blast at ~70 MPG. Especially "Fuel Line."
Hmmm, good old fashioned math puts me at 76 MPG. Now I need to figure out which is correct -- the pencil or the computer.
Update:
In celebration of the release of Neil Young’s new album, FORK IN THE ROAD, Shakey Pictures invites you to take a 43 minute drive with Neil in Lincvolt right here on the Web.
This cruising piece, titled GET AROUND, features Neil singing all his new tunes in real time on an evening drive in Lincvolt.
NEW "GET AROUND" LONG-FORM VIDEO AVAILABLE NOW!
By Scoop Asphalt
The Video premiere of GET AROUND, featuring ALL the music of "Fork in the Road" will be available at 12:01 AM PST Tuesday April 7, worldwide. This long-form video runs 43 minutes and was shot on a Texas Highway between La Grange and Austin shortly before "South By Southwest" extravaganza began in Austin.
GET AROUND will not be available anywhere else because of its long running time exceeding the capabilities of most major outlets. The long form video also will be available with High Definition Sound as part of a new Blu-Ray currently in post-production at Shakey Pictures.
The new GET AROUND Blu-Ray includes all of the videos made for Fork. Shakey Pictures hopes you enjoy taking a ride in Lincvolt with Neil as he sings the entire "Fork in the Road" album plus the additional bonus track, "Get Around."
NEW from our friends at Shakey Pictures, Johnny Magic. Rock your MPG off!
Lincvolt photo wall.
This section updates throughout the day and evenings. (refresh now and then for updates)
View the live Lincvolt Cam or more archived images on the Photo Wall. And don't miss the new time lapse sequences on the Lincvolt.com homepage and Webcam Review. Very cool stuff!
March 30, 2009: LINCVOLT RETURNS TO HOME BASE!
Lincvolt is scheduled to arrive in California on Tuesday March 31.
Lincvolt is being transported to California home base where experiments with fuel types in the rotary generator will continue. Adjustments to the rear end and brakes will take place while the fuel work continues.
We are still waiting for the electrical components that we need to completely test the car and generator system. More info as it happens.
Experiments with fuel sources continue while we await the arrival of components to allow Lincvolt to regenerate its own power. In this time we will experiment with fuel blends to run the generator system more efficiently.
The fuel source for Lincvolt has changed several times. We have tried CNG, ethanol, bio diesel and gasoline. We have tried displacing these fuels with HHO gas from water and have had the most success with the quick burning fuels, ethanol and CNG. The big winner for efficiency has been CNG at this point, yielding 65mpg without any displacement by HHO. We are currently experimenting with ethanol again and researching various blends for experimentation.
We will keep you posted as events develop during the interim time as we wait for our charge system electrical components. We have had no problem with the vehicle's main power. The problem is with the accessory power used to control Lincvolt's many accessory systems. We are confident that the issue will be solved.
March 18, 2009: BACK TO WICHITA
One more time! Lincvolt leaves Austin today traveling North to Wichita for another round with Johnathon Goodwin at the Lincvolt garage. Despite performing beautifully on the track and highway, Lincvolt's main objective is long range and fuel efficiency and no statistics were gathered. Problems with components related to the generator and recharge system prevented meaningful efficiency and mileage stats from being gathered during the trip east.
Lincvolt's journey to Washington and Detroit has been postponed indefinitely while the remaining challenges are confronted. We have always said that we would keep you aware of all of our successes and setbacks. Apparently we bit off more than we could chew. We could not meet our own deadlines for fuel efficiency stats. Watch lincvolt.com for further developments as we continue on our mileage quest.
The Lincvolt team and Goodwin-Young thank you for your continued support.
//
Sounds like a quiet period is coming in the video streams, in comparison to recent weeks. Lincvolt has already raised the bar on electric commuting, for such a heavy vehicle. The project has also introduced many newcomers to the notion of improving their gas mileage, and sparked the desire to learn more. That's all good. Now I suspect it's back to the shop to get the long range efficiency of the generator engine dialed in. It will be very interesting to see what happens next in the Lincvolt development process. The generator needs to provide enough electricity to sustain power to the batteries and electric motor, at cruising speed, and do it using as little fuel as possible, to reach the 100 MPG long range goal.
Are you interested in Lincvolt but keep missing the webcasts? Would a notification to your phone via twitter be helpful?
If so, we can help.
Follow @Lincvolt on twitter or signup for email alerts by sending an email to lincvolt at mileagequest.com (fix the @). Use the subject line "Subscribe Lincvolt".
Note: No other communication is available at that address. Please go to www.lincvolt.com for that.
I'll do what I can to send short alerts when I'm made aware of an event, and as time and circumstances on my end allow, but can't guarantee 100% availability or accuracy. So please don't expect that. Sometimes these happen on very short notice. The Lincvolt team is aware of these accounts and I reserve the right to grant control, and your email address, to them when/if they're ready.
It really is an interesting project and a unique opportunity to see Neil at his passionate best, in another important area outside music.
Follows are a few bits of Lincvolt news. Lincvolt is currently in Virginia for some software work and MPG testing on a test track.
I hadn't planned on driving the Insight this winter but before I knew it, there was snow and ice everywhere. I was admittedly curious about how the car would handle in snow -- so I kept driving. It occurs to me just how similar hypermiling is to driving in snow. In snow, most of us accelerate more carefully, more slowly, so as not to spin the tires. We coast more and allow more distance for stopping. We anticipate (or time) traffic light changes to conserve momentum and avoid abrupt stops. And we (hopefully) drive a little slower, primarily because we don't want to be the first car to the wreck. In general, we drive 'smoother' to maintain control. These things are all very similar to basic hypermiling techniques where you may also control and improve your gas mileage, based on your driving style alone.
Unfortunately, the cold weather is killing my mileage, dropping from 60+ to around 45 MPG on my daily commute. I need to bring the engine temp up a bit to get back into an efficiency range. And then there's the "warming up the car" thing, which nets 0 MPG for every minute it runs. But the Insight is handling well without major changes to my personal driving style. So if you want to experiment with hypermiling, and it's warm where you are, just pretend you're driving in a snowstorm and you'll automatically cover many of the bases. That'll likely increase your gas mileage in any vehicle -- and hopefully you won't have to scrape your windows!
Hobbit demo'd a CFL bulb powered by his Prius all weekend. You can see its reflection in the pic below but I was actually shooting his "Go Around" message in the rear window. :)
