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...

[heavystarch]

Originally Posted by jdium

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...

and that was my precisely my point.


Compared to other weight reduction replacement parts::::

• carbon fiber hood ($300) - 5lbs (just read this in another post a CF hood)
• carbon fiber hatch ($525) - maybe 10lbs (just estimating based on hood)
• carbon fiber sparco seats ($2700ea) - probably 20-25lbs
• custom cat back titanium exhaust ($500 est.) - maybe 15-20lbs
• 6lb-11lb braille auto battery ($180) - aprox. 25-33lbs

Now of course you can start stripping your car of things like the spare tire and seats but if you plan to keep this as a daily driver that's not quite as practical. The $2700 sparco seat isn't realistic in this car either - just an example of something easily replaced for weight reduction.

I'd like to hear other folks experience with weight reduction replacement parts in the Yaris or maybe there are things you can get rid of and not lose practicality, safety and reliability.