6lb 6oz ultra light weight battery

[jdium]

Originally Posted by BailOut

A 33lb weight difference translates into a 0.33 MPG increase.

With a $180 price tag it is around $120 more expensive than a standard 12V battery.

If you average, say, 40 MPG, a 0.33 MPG gain is a 0.825% increase.

If a gallon of gasoline costs $3.00, then this battery saves you 3.00 x 0.825 = $0.025 per gallon. If your average fueling is 10 gallons, this saves $0.25 per fueling.

At this rate it would take the battery 480 fuelings to break even. If you fuel up 3x per month it would take 40 years to achieve this.

In other words, it's not even close to being worthwhile.

It is worthwhile from a performance point of view. As these cars do not have much power or the potential to make much power cheaply, losing weight is a very effective way to increase performance. Being that the Yaris will never be a good drag car, and has no ability for large sticky tires adds to the benefits. Removing 33 lbs from a 2200 lb car is a 1.5 % weight reduction...or about the same as adding 2 hp to a Yaris...or what an exhaust or intake adds...