Ride Along

[MLucas]

We are having another fantastic spring day up here in the Niagara region. I made a video to share the wonders of spring with all of you.

Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/IQUTP9KIcYc

 

[JoeS]

What a lovely negligible-traffic commute! Really like your neighborhood.

Uh, what's that white stuff?

Amazing, turn signals work on SUVs in Canada! Even the guy who changed lanes close to you told you he was doing it - around here that wouldn't even raise an eyebrow.

Consumer Reports should note what a rough jiggly bouncy ride the iMiEV has NOT.

Coming back down that tiny hill, are you able to coast in N and keep up with traffic?

Thank you for sharing.

PS. Wife pointed out that here we presently have a warm sunny day, the lavender is in bloom, the ducks are happily romping around the pool, and the bees are buzzing. I'll add that the solar panels are putting out close to 5kW, :roll:

 

[MLucas]

Thanks for the reply, Joe. That 'hill' is not much compared to California. I lived in Southern California for 10 years on three seperate trips. This is what happens to me for saying 'I'll never move back to the mid-west, ever'. Fate is such a cruel witch.

We have really good roads in Canada, they are smooth as glass. It's quite the difference when I cross into the US and its pothole city. The video does show how smooth the i-MiEV is, yeah - I don't get that jouncy ride comment. I find it mostly very smooth.

And like most places, turn signals have become optional. You are right, at least that guy that nearly took my mirror off had the courtesy to tell me he was coming over.

 

[BillThompsonMIEV]

Great video. Have you noticed on your commute that you get more KM with the first bar and correspondingly less with the successive bars?

 

[aarond12]

A nice, peaceful, quiet video. I noticed a few things:

1. Blowing off the stop sign in your neighborhood. :lol: Saves battery power, right?
2. You did between 80-98km/h on the expressway. If I did less than 110km/h here in Dallas, I would be someone's hood ornament. I'm glad Canadian drivers continue to be courteous. I liked how you sped up to try and draft the box truck.
3. Your roads are incredibly smooth. My wife, from the Philippines, was shocked that the roads in Texas were as bad as the roads in the Philippines.

 

[MLucas]

Replying to several comments:

Coasting down that hill (JoeS): Yes, I've been practicing my coasting skills down that hill. It's definitely a skill to be learned to make it smooth and efficient. I have another spot going into the U.S. just before the Peace Bridge that I've been developing my coasting skills. I've never heard of this before I met all of you hypermilers.

More mileage on the first bar (BillThomson): I've read these post but haven't noticed this phenomena myself. My first bar always goes quickly because of that hill. But the second bar last to just where I cut the video off. In summer I consistently can make it to Buffalo on six bars, if I'm real good and the weather is in my favor I can do it on 5. It's 30 miles one way. The winter is between 7 and 8 bars depending on weather.

Several q's from aarond12: Caught me doing a rolling stop. But, I did read it is a hypermiler technique to keep it moving. The speed, I've just learned to deal with it. Most people just blow around me and I find some people follow me for a long distance. I guess they want to save gas, too. If someone got up behind me and gave me a hard time, I would just keep doing it and probably slow down even more. Drafting - works great. I was late to work the other day and had to bring my speed up quite a bit - technique worked great to keep my amps down and my speed up.

 

[tonymil]

Nice video. I have the same observation as everyone else. what a smooth ride! But I also noticed you have less snow than Albany, what's up with that?!

 

[sandange]

Wow you have great roads to ride on.
We have some bad back roads to travel out our way , have to travel them to safe 14 km from our daily commute.

 

[JoeS]

MLucas, it looks as though you mounted the camera on the passenger's headrest. How did you do it and what camera/resolution did you use? BTW, I didn't hear any audio. Any recommendations if I were to buy something for the purpose of semi-permanently installing and using continuously in my iMiEV?

 

[aarond12]

I didn't hear any audio.

There is some audio, but it is VERY faint. Sounded like classical string music. I had to turn up the volume all the way to hear anything.

 

[MLucas]

Nice video. I have the same observation as everyone else. what a smooth ride! But I also noticed you have less snow than Albany, what's up with that?!

We missed out on that huge snow storm a week or so ago that you got. But, it looks like SNOW tomorrow and Wednesday. Oh, joy!

 

[MLucas]

MLucas, it looks as though you mounted the camera on the passenger's headrest. How did you do it and what camera/resolution did you use? BTW, I didn't hear any audio. Any recommendations if I were to buy something for the purpose of semi-permanently installing and using continuously in my iMiEV?

I would love to see some 'Ride Along' footage from your i-MiEV. You've got some great hypermiling techniques I'd like to observe.

My setup is really simple. I used a four year old point and shoot camera with a video feature. To get it steady and mounted, I simply used an inexpensive tripod I had kicking around my house, I think I bought it for my laser level years ago. Its in good shape and works well. The tripod legs are easilly adjustable to the different contours of the passenger side floor board. The third leg was actually proped on the passenger seat. Then I used a bunji chord to keep it from tossing around.

Its easy to setup and take down. Took me all of three minutes to install it.

 

[MLucas]

I didn't hear any audio.

There is some audio, but it is VERY faint. Sounded like classical string music. I had to turn up the volume all the way to hear anything.

There is music in the background, its very faint. My camera is just a point and shoot, so the mic doesn't work that well on it. It's a classical station from Buffalo, keeps me calm and relaxed in the morning.

The nice thing is there was no motor noise. I have to say, since I've gotten my EV - I really hate riding in ICE vehicles. That constant motor buzz is very irratating.

 

[Zelenec]

Any recommendations if I were to buy something for the purpose of semi-permanently installing and using continuously in my iMiEV?

IMHO, GoPro Hero is the best multiusable camcorder for cars, bikes, surfs, water sports...