Ha, where is Cruze on this issue. One heck of a capacitor, 1,080 farads to be exact. When you take your foot off the gas, guess you have to do that in city traffic occasionally. The alternator output voltage increases to 25 volts putting an additional load on the engine for regenerative braking that is used to charge this capacitor for electric energy storage that is used for the next time you have to hit that gas pedal.
But not for acceleration, just to relieve the load from the alternator claiming an addition 10% fuel savings in city driving. In addition to this capacitor, a down converter must be added to get 12 V out. They claim this system is only adding 20 pounds to the vehicle.
Now I am wondering if I can emulate this in my Cruze, simply by turning off all the unneeded electrical systems. Even to the extend of rolling down the window and leaving that AC off. Compressor coil is not too bad, around 3 amps, but that blower motor pulls over 20. So how much gas are these day time running lights costing us? And are they really effective in preventing accidents?
The real key problem in cities are intersections, and traffic lights that stay red when not a cross vehicle in sight. And 90% of the driving is done in city traffic.
DOT came into our town about 13 years ago, added several dozen or more traffic lights, dumped all the yield signs, added a whole bunch of street lighting, some are brighter in the day than at night, but will still get a ticket if your head lamps are off. Now it takes 50% longer to drive anywhere, but is for our safety. So far, no results about reductions in accidents, still have idiots that run red lights.
So we have the government going one way to consume a lot more energy, and the auto makers going the other way to try to save a bit. Read Los Angeles and other cities are even worse.
I live only five blocks from what use to be a 65 mph two lane state road that was dropped to a 55 mph road back in the 70's. Then they came in and made that a five mile long divided highway, loaded with traffic lights, a 250 watt street lamp every 100 feet, then dropped the speed limit to 35 mph. Now I have to creep at 35 mph until it drops to a dark two lane road again before I can hit 55 again. Around here, very little traffic after dark, what are all those lights burning for and why do I have head lamps? And why am I stopping at red light with not a vehicle in sight?
Just stupid questions I know, but I like asking stupid questions. Furthermore after driving on this same road for the last 40 years, not one new building was added anywhere.
But not for acceleration, just to relieve the load from the alternator claiming an addition 10% fuel savings in city driving. In addition to this capacitor, a down converter must be added to get 12 V out. They claim this system is only adding 20 pounds to the vehicle.
Now I am wondering if I can emulate this in my Cruze, simply by turning off all the unneeded electrical systems. Even to the extend of rolling down the window and leaving that AC off. Compressor coil is not too bad, around 3 amps, but that blower motor pulls over 20. So how much gas are these day time running lights costing us? And are they really effective in preventing accidents?
The real key problem in cities are intersections, and traffic lights that stay red when not a cross vehicle in sight. And 90% of the driving is done in city traffic.
DOT came into our town about 13 years ago, added several dozen or more traffic lights, dumped all the yield signs, added a whole bunch of street lighting, some are brighter in the day than at night, but will still get a ticket if your head lamps are off. Now it takes 50% longer to drive anywhere, but is for our safety. So far, no results about reductions in accidents, still have idiots that run red lights.
So we have the government going one way to consume a lot more energy, and the auto makers going the other way to try to save a bit. Read Los Angeles and other cities are even worse.
I live only five blocks from what use to be a 65 mph two lane state road that was dropped to a 55 mph road back in the 70's. Then they came in and made that a five mile long divided highway, loaded with traffic lights, a 250 watt street lamp every 100 feet, then dropped the speed limit to 35 mph. Now I have to creep at 35 mph until it drops to a dark two lane road again before I can hit 55 again. Around here, very little traffic after dark, what are all those lights burning for and why do I have head lamps? And why am I stopping at red light with not a vehicle in sight?
Just stupid questions I know, but I like asking stupid questions. Furthermore after driving on this same road for the last 40 years, not one new building was added anywhere.