The bumpers on a car decrease MPG

[Low-Q]

Hi,

I have thought about how the bumpers affects the performance of the available power in a car engine. The bumper applies friction to the suspension so the car doesn't jump off a bumpy road. However, that friction will be a sort of energy loss. The questions is: How much energy loss is it at a given car weight and suspension travel pr. time? By how much will that decrease MPG?

Vidar

 

[CWatters]

Oh you mean the shock absorbers...

http://blogs.discovery.com/files/energy-harvesting-shock-absorber-june-2011.pdf

Energy Harvesting Shock Absorbers

snip

We estimated that for a middle-size vehicle, 100W, 400W, and 1600W of average power is available for harvesting from the regenerative shock absorbers while driving on Class B (good), C (average), and D (poor) highways at 60 mph.

snip

This represents a potential of 1-4% fuel efficiency increase in conventional cars and up to 8% for hybrid vehicle.

 

[mfb]

I think they absorb energy which would be lost anyway - just in other parts of the car. They can even reduce losses, if they keep the whole car from bumping around.
If that energy can be extracted: Even better.

 

[Low-Q]

Oh you mean the shock absorbers...

http://blogs.discovery.com/files/energy-harvesting-shock-absorber-june-2011.pdf

Yes that's correct :-) I used google translate from Norwegian...
Well, thanks for the link :-)

Vidar