I'd like to invent a small computer or an application for a car's computer that would keep a running-record of how much fuel the car actually receives at fill-ups and how many miles it drives on that fuel. Or it could even be an application that runs on your cell phone.
I used to keep track of all my fuel purchases in one of those little spiral notebooks that I would keep in the glove compartment. Gallons, mileage, price, date. I knew my fuel mileage in winter vs. summer; I knew what caused good and what caused bad. I can still tell you what I paid for a fill in June 1978. But now I'm too lazy. I have enough money that I can just fill the tank when I need to and not be too concerned. But I think I should be.
It would be so easy to make a device that would actually read the pump and pass this info--thru wifi, bluetooth, bar-code, anything--to your computer and give you real info. When I worked with trains, I actually helped design such a device for locomotives.
Even with the high prices of gas today, most people really don't know how many mpg their cars get. They might be able to tell you the instantaneous mpg that their car’s computer shows them, but once I rented a minivan for a trip that reported 24 on the computer but every fill, I tallied about 20. I want to know the real numbers. Also, most cars really don't know how much gas they get or use, because the tank-gages are badly calibrated. I watched a TV show where the car went more than 130 miles past “zero miles to empty” on the computer. So I believe the measure of gallons should be on the pump, not in the tank.
Too many people are fooled into believing that they get 21 mpg in their SUV because that’s what the EPA rating said—they’ve never done a check and don’t realize that the EPA number was for a treadmill/dyno at a 55mph pace.
Finally, I still do use the little notebooks to record maintenance. This computer should be able to store your oil change info, tire rotation, fluid change, etc. This is sort-of related to an idea of pepindia007, so I don't get all of the credit for this one. http://www.whynot.net/ideas/5244
These records should of course be in non-volatile memory, safe from dead batteries.
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Reading the pump would require designing a system for the pump to transmit the info and installing it in the pumps. It would be hard to convince gas station owners to install them. Why not just install a device in the car's fuel line that accurately measures how much gas you use? If the factory installed system is not accurate, maybe you can design an aftermarket system that is. That way, you won't be depending on the gas stations to help.
Actually, I think a cell-phone camera with OCR capabilities might suffice. The things their doing with i-phone aps are pretty amazing.
Your idea reminds me of the Nike iPod attachment. Stay with me.
This device is implanted in your shoe with a receiver attached to the iPod. It records a multitude of data that can be then uploaded via iTunes to track your jogging record.
Apple is already teaming up with auto companies to integrate the iPod into stereo systems, so why not expand it to your idea.
Does your phone have a calculator? Every time you fill up, reset your trip on the dash to zero. Next time you fill up, divide miles driven by the gallons you put in your car. The only requirement is you need to fill up each time you get gas (what you put in is what you burned since last fillup.)
I do this every time to make sure my MPG is consistent...and it is. Nearly always 28 MPG for my gas powered 2006 VW Golf.
I bet Google would be willing to pitch in on development in return for some paid advertising... a voice comes over your radio when gas gets low or your check engine light comes on ;) "Stop into Cooters, on the corner of State and Main, 25% off any oil change when you mention the coupon code DUKEBOYS"
Yes, Shawn, I have always figured my mpg on a per-tank basis. I just mean to have a device that could keep a running record and maybe graph it for you. That way you could see if you did something that helps (new tires?) or if something went wrong (engine problem).
Yes, Carson, I can see the parallels with the iPod-shoe thing. Problem is, if my thingy just takes a picture of the gas pump (with a cell phone ap) and does the OCR and computing from there, then I really don't have anything to 'sell'. With the shoe-thing, they get to sell you the shoe. Do people actually 'pay' for cellphone aps?
I think this idea would be a good program implemented by EPA itself. The car's make, model, mileage and gallons of gas could be recorded and entered into a national database so really accurate estimates of MPG could be generated (hopefully no personal data about who owns the vehicle though so the system can't be used to intrude on citizen's privacy). Gas stations could be required to have the system installed to be permitted to sell gas. Vehicle owners could choose whether to have an onboard data recorder installed to get feedback from the gas station system, so they could easily check their vehicle's MPG against the national statistics from the data. Might even help mechanics determine if something is wrong with the engine if its fuel consumption is way over the national average.
As it turns out there is a relatively inexpensive device called MPGuino being developed open-source that connects to an OBD-II connector installed on most if not all cars manufactured after 1998 and supplies along with diagnostic device all of the information needed to compute MPG as well as diagnostic information about the car. Similar developments using GPS, XM, wireless internet, online databases for gas prices, automobile make information and the use of Kalman Filter based algorythms could result in an online database, Google or otherwise, providing correlation of fuel economy to automobile make and model, altitude, temperature, etc. This leads to several possibilities in addition to MPG data based on MPG information based on actual results, automated suggestions to the driver as to how his driving habits could be improved amongst other possibilities. Realizing that many of todays automobile radios are also navigation systems having GPS antennas, LCD displays along with being reprogrammable I expect we will soon be seeing MPG displays and more being displayed on our radios. As evidence check out EcoRoute being developed by Garmin.