104 replies to this topic

[catsailor]

Here is the note I penned to Susanne at Gas Pod

 

"I have captured a snap shot of my Trip #2 dash reading which I am holding open to show my cumulative Gas Pod miles which are 514.6 miles at 48.2 MPG driven. This is NOT my all time best which I think is higher than that like 48.7 MPG but trust me when I tell you that I probably nursed the shit out of the accelerator to get that result. This total tank which included 45 miles (driven)approx before I installed the Pods is 557 miles at 48.1 MPG.

 

Now here is the good stuff that average stats won’t tell you. Last week I drove from Thurmont MD back to Kensington (my home) around 60 miles and did nothing out of the normal and got 55 MPG for that trip, thought to myself ideal storm J But since then I have had 3 more long highway trips of that same distance to Baltimore etc and have seen my trips at +50 MPG. SO THIS IS FOR REAL !!!! I know I have 1500 more miles to drive which will be 3 more fill ups BUT to my eye it’s what I do on the highway that counts. I do monitor those trips of 50 miles of open road and so far very and I mean very pleased. If I get another +47 MPG tank you will know that you have a nice product on your hands. The weather here just got cool this week as we had a very warm late September and early October weather.

 

I copy my buddies at Academy Ford as they are becoming efficiency  geeks with all these e mails of mine. Thanks Catsailor"

 

 

So I know I don't want to get ahead of myself and I know what really counts is what I do on the highway and trust me I am looking at what numbers I am posting on those trips and so far "I LIKE IT .......ALOT" stay tuned tank #2 on in play now.

 

 

[ScubaDadMiami]

What were you getting on the highway before versus now?

[Jus-A-CMax]

I decided I'll buy into these Gas Pods, jus submitted my fuelly miles and got my discount.

 

It going to be TOUGH to beat those numbers, especially with the cold weather here now. To give you an idea, the same route, I would be finish with 62-64MPG and the last 2 days (due to a winter storm), an ABSYMAL 58MPG. It been a cool 55F - 62F.

 

I figure, if I make the same numbers, I would be true-blue believer but I have to admit, I am coming in from a very skeptical point of view but the cost is no big deal to me...kinda casino, you may win or you may lose but walk in there know you will lose but intelligently trying to double you money.

 

LOL, in this case, if I get $1 back from my $20 bill, that would be good... ...

[mtb9153]

Great Jus will be interested to see what you think of the Pods.  I really think they make a difference.  Thanks to Suzanne and AeroHance for coming up with them.  You have a winner.

[Jus-A-CMax]

Crap, the shipping and taxes really killed any discount. I forgot what state we lived in and even based in Santa Barbara, I could drive there and back CHEAPER than it is to mail those thingos....

 

And still have money leftover for a nice ice-cream on the beach.

Edited by Jus-A-CMax, 11 October 2013 - 02:36 PM.

[susanne]

Crap, the shipping and taxes really killed any discount. I forgot what state we lived in and even based in Santa Barbara, I could drive there and back CHEAPER than it is to mail those thingos....

 

And still have money leftover for a nice ice-cream on the beach.

You'll recover these costs with the rebate when we see your results

 

And you are welcome to visit us in Santa Barbara anytime!

Edited by susanne, 12 October 2013 - 12:46 PM.

[Jus-A-CMax]

You'll recover these costs with the rebate when we see your results

 

And you are welcome to visit us in Santa Barbara anytime!

 

Right now, I am on a skeptical fence. Thats jus me but I have extremely good stats on my routes so we shall see. The wifey is betting $5 that its not going to make a difference but I can prolly tell in the first few drives. I took this challenge because of the positives from Mike and also catsailor....but for me, its tougher as I am flying high stratosphere-miling near space with my MPGs. Today, I just did a 740 mile tank in my sleep with about 50% city driving...thats tough to beat & improve but I am consistent.

 

Let's play....

[mtb9153]

Well the weather is definitely cooling here in the Bay Area and I'm noticing that my numbers are falling off. So a 700 tank might have to wait until next year. even when I do everything right my numbers are dropping. MPG has dropped from 48.5 to 46.5 driving on the same roads which got me that last 652miles tank.

[catsailor]

_{Here is the deal, I bought into Gas Pods not because I do a lot of city short spurt drives BUT because when I have to drive +2 hour distances on open highways I wanted to maximize what MPG's I was getting. I think if your on a lot of back roads doing 45-55 mph you may or may not be able to measure the results. Once I got 13B07 installed and I could set cruise control above 62 MPH and now I cruise at 65-68 MPH in a 65 zone THAT is when I thought the Pods would really shine.}

 

_{I am not looking at my individual tanks but every time now I am on the open road I check out mentally what my MPG was for that long haul? Was really surprised at those few trips I had over 50 mpg.}

 

_{The other thing I noticed and since its been raining and drizzling here with a Nor-Easterly parked above the mid Atlantic my rear glass has not needed to be wiped as often when at highway speed.......maybe Susanne can comment on this real effect of having the Pods installed????}

[susanne]

_{Here is the deal, I bought into Gas Pods not because I do a lot of city short spurt drives BUT because when I have to drive +2 hour distances on open highways I wanted to maximize what MPG's I was getting. I think if your on a lot of back roads doing 45-55 mph you may or may not be able to measure the results. Once I got 13B07 installed and I could set cruise control above 62 MPH and now I cruise at 65-68 MPH in a 65 zone THAT is when I thought the Pods would really shine.}

 

_{I am not looking at my individual tanks but every time now I am on the open road I check out mentally what my MPG was for that long haul? Was really surprised at those few trips I had over 50 mpg.}

 

_{The other thing I noticed and since its been raining and drizzling here with a Nor-Easterly parked above the mid Atlantic my rear glass has not needed to be wiped as often when at highway speed.......maybe Susanne can comment on this real effect of having the Pods installed????}

 

Catsailor, Thank you for the invite, and please feel free to contribute given your experience and education in the field.

 

The Computational Fluid Analysis we conducted showed an escalation in effect with speed. We ran the study at 35 mph and at 65 mph. In both cases reduction in the drag coefficient of the vehicles started at about 25 mph, and became "significant" at about 45 mph.

 

Our personal logs show about a nominal 1/2 mpg savings with Santa Barbara city driving, but jump to a consistent extra 6-8 mpg on freeway road trips. We drive a leaves a lot for aerodynamic improvement Volvo cross country station wagon. (Branded when the kid was on swim team.)

 

The back windshield effect.... The windshield is dirtied by turbulent air looping back from the ground to the windshield. That is what a lot of the aerodynamic improvements you see in your CMAX over my station wagon already address. GasPods are an easy way to contribute toward the fix a bit more.  

 

GasPods are just tall enough to grab air as it is breaking away from the surface of the vehicle. That breakaway is what generates the turbulence that creates backwash. Skin friction studies show that a GasPod is an optimum height to be just short of picking up drag. They are an aerodynamic shape, wider and taller at the front, tapered to a trailing edge, which accelerates air as it follows along the GasPod contour, that moves more air faster into that low pressure vacuum behind the vehicle allowing more of the air to stream on by, and less to turbulate and dirty your windshield with backwash. 

[fotomoto]

It sure would be really great if some of our early adopters didn't have the 13B07 update.  No one has experience with it in cool to cold conditions so getting a good apples to apples comparison is iffy at best.  

 

Since just about everyone got the update, I'd suggest using the magnetic ones to perform some highway tests (round trips at 65, 70, and 75) with and without the pods on the same day; a day that doesn't see a huge variation in temps.   Also, make sure the car is completely warm (20 miles) beforehand.  Even better, use a passenger to install the pods and not tell the driver thus eliminating that variable.  

Edited by fotomoto, 13 October 2013 - 07:34 PM.

[catsailor]

Thanks Susanne, We use CFD analysis everywhere now. I am real happy with your product, it looks very stylish too and makes my Max stand out from the crowd. I would wonder what Ford's new rear spoiler for the 2014 Max will look like and their design could and should validate your product theory completely. I doubt it will be as sophisticated as yours cause it still must be stamped from sheet metal and to make Pods like in the spoiler would be a fairly expensive if not an impossible mold.

[Jus-A-CMax]

So I finally got my gaspods in the mail this evening.

 

First impression...not good. It was wrapped in a brown bag. Okay, may be I was expecting some fancy packaging, I dunno. IMO, presentation could have been better, given the price. The pods themselves look far smaller than in the photos, or the impression you get from the websites. They are dinky. I got the black ones, I could not justify the price for white ones as I could not understand such a huge price difference going to a colored one and I am not even talking about the :airquote: custom colored ones yet...thats another league up in the price. Wifey would have kittens if I got those. All up, first impression, 5 out of 10. Yeah, its harsh but I truly expected a more professional packaging, that brown bag jus killed it for me.

 

Also, I noticed there were "Pat Pend" little stickes on the bottom of all of the pods. Once I removed the stickers, I seemed to grip much better. Right now, I have set them exacty 1" from the trailing edge, 5" apart.  Tested with the liftgat and it was fine....I learnt the lessons after the MTB debacle (thanks for the tip Mike ).

 

Has anyone notice a wee little tail on the rear lights (aka a little scoop) molded to the plastic? Hmmh....wonder what is THAT FOR....aerodynamics, perhaps? Doesn't seem right to have this little tail at the end when Ford could have made it all smooth...

 

So I have done about 80+ odd miles with this new tank. Right now I am around 1.46 gallons used and at 59MPGs. Pull the low 60s when I get to work but thats IFFY now - Los Angeles (at least San Fernando Valley) traffic TRULY sucks in the last 5 months (I am seeing too many cars in the morning, and A LOT of idiot drivers and getting to a point where its a nightmare...and I am travelling the surface streets!). It truly is a WTF time in the morning for me. Huge SUVs all over the place - gas price is cheap and I reckon they are out numbering even the Priis in the valley.

 

Temps are much cooler too, low 50s in the morning now so thats sucking a bit more gas as well as ICE warms up. I notice the 2nd ICE heat cycle is going on longer. 13b07 improved this but the temps are just that - low and so I am burning at least 0.03 and 0.02 gas just for the warm up.

 

Lets PLAY...it will be a while before I can report back and I am HOPING these gas pods will do better than the packaging score. I intend to win that $5 from the wifey   so these gas pods better NOT let me down...

[salsaguy]

jus i sure hope you got the magnetic ones so you can experiment around and not be locked in if you don't like them.

[mtb9153]

So I finally got my gaspods in the mail this evening.

 

First impression...not good. It was wrapped in a brown bag. Okay, may be I was expecting some fancy packaging, I dunno. IMO, presentation could have been better, given the price. The pods themselves look far smaller than in the photos, or the impression you get from the websites. They are dinky. I got the black ones, I could not justify the price for white ones as I could not understand such a huge price difference going to a colored one and I am not even talking about the :airquote: custom colored ones yet...thats another league up in the price. Wifey would have kittens if I got those. All up, first impression, 5 out of 10. Yeah, its harsh but I truly expected a more professional packaging, that brown bag jus killed it for me.

 

Also, I noticed there were "Pat Pend" little stickes on the bottom of all of the pods. Once I removed the stickers, I seemed to grip much better. Right now, I have set them exacty 1" from the trailing edge, 5" apart.  Tested with the liftgat and it was fine....I learnt the lessons after the MTB debacle (thanks for the tip Mike ).

 

Has anyone notice a wee little tail on the rear lights (aka a little scoop) molded to the plastic? Hmmh....wonder what is THAT FOR....aerodynamics, perhaps? Doesn't seem right to have this little tail at the end when Ford could have made it all smooth...

 

So I have done about 80+ odd miles with this new tank. Right now I am around 1.46 gallons used and at 59MPGs. Pull the low 60s when I get to work but thats IFFY now - Los Angeles (at least San Fernando Valley) traffic TRULY sucks in the last 5 months (I am seeing too many cars in the morning, and A LOT of idiot drivers and getting to a point where its a nightmare...and I am travelling the surface streets!). It truly is a WTF time in the morning for me. Huge SUVs all over the place - gas price is cheap and I reckon they are out numbering even the Priis in the valley.

 

Temps are much cooler too, low 50s in the morning now so thats sucking a bit more gas as well as ICE warms up. I notice the 2nd ICE heat cycle is going on longer. 13b07 improved this but the temps are just that - low and so I am burning at least 0.03 and 0.02 gas just for the warm up.

 

Lets PLAY...it will be a while before I can report back and I am HOPING these gas pods will do better than the packaging score. I intend to win that $5 from the wifey   so these gas pods better NOT let me down...

Jus according to what Suzanne told me those little wings or what ever you want to call them on the tail lights are aerodynamic attempts Ford added to smooth out the air flow off the rear end.  Whether they work is anyone's guess?  I'm routing for you to pocket the $5, sorry wifey.

[susanne]

So I finally got my gaspods in the mail this evening.

 

First impression...not good. It was wrapped in a brown bag. Okay, may be I was expecting some fancy packaging, I dunno.{snip} Yeah, its harsh but I truly expected a more professional packaging, that brown bag jus killed it for me.

 

Jus-A-CMax - its eco packaging! You are the first complaint so far.

[Jus-A-CMax]

1st Day Morning impression. So it may be a placebo effect but I rawked to work with 80.4 MPG using 0.25 gas over 20.5 miles. Stellar but not Galactic - not the best by a long shot (record remains at 84MPG).

 

Contrast this with yesterday, I had 71MPG with 0.28 gas used. On 10/11, the same run I had 78.1MPG using 0.26 gallons. I would say this run, 75MPG is average and 0.27 is average gas used.

 

Also I observed the following:

 

1. It was 58F this morning, warm up cycle remained as it. 0.04 at my 1st checkpoint, nothing new there.

2. Maxine appears to glide easier and further, forcing me to use less EV. I seem to get better ROU with my EV at the same levels. I know my roads and I noticed my speeds between 35 and 40mph appear to be smoother and longer in EVing. Less EVing effort = better MPGs. 

3. No effect in acceleration effort from 15 to 30-35 mph in ICE. 

 

I had the usual peak hour crazy traffic and once, I had to accelerate quick to from zero to avoid the DUMB LA city surface traffic in full ICE.

 

So I would class today as a "normal" peak hour driving traffic, no special light sync and filled with the usual idiots in their large SUVs. 

 

Day is not over, I am going to go to the golf course after work and then head home.

 

Lets keep playing...its going to be a LONG tank and with some freeway thrown in there (its not going to be the tank gunning for the top 600+ CMax Club Top Dog as I am retired from the game).

 

 

Jus-A-CMax - its eco packaging! You are the first complaint so far.

LOL....hey, I call it as I see it. I still have the bag and I should see if it was a recycle brown bag. Seriously, while I understand the "eco" aspect, 1st impression is everything. Even my LED that are extremely eco-friendly lights, all come professionally packed in plastic@$20 per light. Jus' sayin...

Edited by Jus-A-CMax, 15 October 2013 - 11:08 AM.

[susanne]

deleted - will post later.

Edited by susanne, 15 October 2013 - 01:21 PM.

[Jus-A-CMax]

catsailor/mtb/paul - how far back r u guys putting these pods? Does 1/2" from the edge make any difference? mine is set exactly 1" from the edge.

 

Went from work to the golf course, a 7.6 mile trip and that was 64.4 MPG. Average. I have had 68MPG and I have had 59MPG.

 

Head back home from the GC and I got 51.9 MPG on this leg,

 

Overall for the day I finished with 63.8 MPG:

 

 

That is on the upper end of good for this particular route

 

 

I have had 64+ MPG for the day but that is a different route where I do not deviate to the golf course or gym after work (jus work....->...home).

 

Also, before I put on the gas pods, I made sure I completely cleaned & wax the back section and it was spotless. Today I did a finger-dirt test and I did find some dirt at the end, so its still picking up some dirt.

 

Again, my feeling is that Maxine was gliding better and the spots where I know I would watch the Avg MPG fall, these spots were holding.

 

End of the day, I would rate the gas pods usage and effectiveness at 7/10. I didn't see too much improvement to the golf course, but I didn't lose either and on the way back, it was a postive.. ....on the upper end of good

 

I got a different route from work to a way point tomorrow and then home to try. Lets keep playing....

 

Edited by Jus-A-CMax, 15 October 2013 - 11:01 PM.

[CMaxChat]

Wayne Gerdes at CleanMPG.com states that GasPods is a scam.  Here's the thread: http://www.cleanmpg....ead.php?t=44775  Another thread on ecomodder.com on the topic: http://ecomodder.com...them-24057.html

Edited by CMaxChat, 15 October 2013 - 11:18 PM.