New invention could benefit RVers.

Eurocamper wrote:

camperpaul wrote:
Now imagine a 26 ft motorhome that got 16 MPG using the Oldsmobile Toronado drive train (the Olds got around 8 MPG).


1971 Travco.

16 MPG? Really?

Yes, really.

They were built in 1971, before the EPA required the pollution control devices. It ran on 100 Octane leaded gasoline.

Interesting invention, but if it comes loose and flies off, the liability would be very high... far more than diesel saved.

Remember the 70s-80s and the OTR trucking industry? Most of the tractors were flat front/cab-over-engine design. Driver visibility, maneuverability, shorter tractor/longer trailer gave way to better fuel economy.

westend wrote:
Good effort by the young man but it certainly isn't a decrease in fuel savings for ALL vehicles and I doubt school buses would even see those numbers. Around here, in suburbia, the buses are operated on side streets at low speeds and make frequent stops and starts. Not the best test situation for aerodynamics.

You are correct (the adverse) TYPO, it should read the average bus does not go fast enough for aerodynamics to come into play. The Volt that I own begins to loose significant efficiency at about 50 MPH, my guess is aerodynamics do not come into play till a bus reaches a speed of 40 MPH.

(aerodynamics come into play the minute a vehicle starts moving, I am talking about a significant effect which I am WAG at 40 MPH)

camperpaul wrote:
Now imagine a 26 ft motorhome that got 16 MPG using the Oldsmobile Toronado drive train (the Olds got around 8 MPG).


1971 Travco.

16 MPG? Really?

sowego wrote:

… a plexiglass shield would not work well or for long...mainly because the product scratches quite easily and may even distort the driver's view of the road.

I agree and so does the inventor.

This was his first design which he discarded as impractical:



The current design looks like this drawing:



which produces a laminar air flow on the roof, thus reducing drag.

Some of you obviously have not been around a school bus much when it is operating.

It is an interesting read on a topic we all understand quite well...most busses and RVs are indeed not aerodynamic! However a plexiglass shield would not work well or for long...mainly because the product scratches quite easily and may even distort the driver's view of the road.

I love to see young folks state the obvious when it comes to being efficient but he and everyone else needs to convince the RV industry a truely aerodynamic model should be developed.

That is total BS. What percentage of a school bus use is at any speed where aerodynamics come into play? Most of the use is slow speed stop and go.

Maybe the government and transportation industry should hire teenagers. :)