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First post here, but I've lurked since buying my '06 HCHII...

I am wondering if anyone has done any GPS based logging and analysis for the sake of measuring impact on fuel economy. I just got a Garmin 60 CSx and it's got all kinds of useful data about the factors which have an impact on fuel economy. My plan is to commute with it daily for at least a month and note my FE, the temp, trip distance, moving time, average moving speed, altitude gain, and altitude loss. At the end of the commute, I will analyze the results to determine the correlation between Temp/FE, altitude change/FE, average speed/FE, etc.

Has anyone else done anything similar? If so, do you have any tips on information I should add to my recording? I would love to be able to overlay an instantanious FE graph over my altitude graph--does the ScanGauge have downloadable data like that?

Thanks!

Hi Kristian:

___Wayne Brown of Privtenrg (www.privtenrg.com) has some info you may be interested in? In particular, State of Charge pre-staged for upcoming Terrain (http://privatenrg.com/#terrainfollowing) analysis. I believe the average hypermiler looking ahead and paying attention to his instrumentation will outperform any GPS based terrain following solution but its those that are not equipped or not paying attention where something along the lines of a DWL - Terrain based GPS solution would work wonders … Take a look as it might be what you are looking for?

___As far as Temp’s and altitudes are concerned, if you are driving in the upper regions of the country (Rockies through Washington State for example), the lower aerodynamic resistance courtesy of the thinner air is a windfall! I believe the larger throttle plate openings in thinner air also help but I do not have any conclusive data on it myself. I guess that is a commonplace answer for someone who lives between 540 and 650’ above Sea Level for most of his or her life ;)

___I know you were looking for more but that is the extent of the coverage that I know of right now?

___Finally, welcome to CleanMPG :)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

About all I've done is compare the GPS vs. the odometer
over the long haul to arrive at the conversion factor I
need for my very slightly smaller newer tires, but that can
come into play when calculating the "real life fillup"
average vs. what the FCD in the car says. Other than
noting large changes in temp, it's not clear that collecting
all that fine-grained data really counts for much..
.
_H*

Has anyone else done anything similar? If so, do you have any tips on information I should add to my recording? I would love to be able to overlay an instantanious FE graph over my altitude graph--does the ScanGauge have downloadable data like that?I don't have the GPS in my car, I have it in my Wife's. I do collect a large sampling of data just from my FCD (start at my sig and follow the linked list). I probably collect a lot more than I need, but I find it useful to verify hunches and cast long term trends.

In truth, I've learned more just by seat-of-my-pants driving than any analysis. I do use the data to calculate error which is really usefull.

Still, would be real interested to hear what the ODO -vs- GPS miles came out to.

11011011

Hi Kristian:

___Wayne Brown of Privtenrg (www.privtenrg.com) has some info you may be interested in? In particular, State of Charge pre-staged for upcoming Terrain (http://privatenrg.com/#terrainfollowing) analysis. I believe the average hypermiler looking ahead and paying attention to his instrumentation will outperform any GPS based terrain following solution but its those that are not equipped or not paying attention where something along the lines of a DWL - Terrain based GPS solution would work wonders … Take a look as it might be what you are looking for?



I was not remotely thinking about anything that, but it would be a godsend in the mountains! I hate it when I see white asst bars on slight hills when I know that just means that my SOC is going to be flat when the big ones come. Driving at altitude and getting good (great) milage is really a challenge and I would take any help I could get! It would be sweet to have a smart cruise control that anticipated the terrain and would calculate exactly how much juice/gas was required to get you to crest the top of the hill at your minimum allowable speed (only to maximize your regen on the downhill portion while allowing you to hit your max allowable speed).

In terms of my logging, I was mainly just looking to show graphically what we all already know from experience--the longer, slower and flatter the drive, the better your milage will be. I am also planning some load tests (driving with bikes on the roof or driving with the AC on) where having back to back GPS logs of the + and - conditions will help recognize (and rule out) data with anomolies. If I come up with anything interesting, I'll post it.