Hypermiling your fuel economy ? The greenest extreme sport for cars
I've observed with mild amusement the recent spate of stories in the mainstream media about fuel saving. Maybe you have too.
You know the kind of articles. "Ten Ways to Survive High Gas Prices". "8 Things You Must Do to Save at the Pump". Even the venerable old Federal Trade Commission has a published list. Gasoline price spikes bring these out like a spring rain conjures up the worms. Once the price surge recedes (or the public gets used to the new price level) the media attention to fuel-saving goes underground again - just like the earthworms.
Yes, our collective memory is short. The wheels seem to turn something like this in the American brain. "Geez, $2.98 a gallon! Next time I buy a new vehicle I'd better downsize to something with better fuel mileage. I'm gonna go broke filling up this barge." Two weeks later, gas drops to $2.80 a gallon. "Wow, only $2.80 a gallon, now that's more like it". Collectively, we blithely ignore both past history (remember $1.25 a gallon gas?) and future trends (how high can it go?). But don't take my word for it. Check out the Oct. 19 AutoblogGreen post The Forgetfulness is Real.
Talk about forgetting. These fuel-saving tip lists are largely forgettable and that's regrettable. Most of them haven't changed much since the '50s. That's all the way back to President Eisenhower, father of the interstate highway system, for you history buffs. Same old hoary axioms: slow down, check tire pressure. You know the dreary drill. That's the problem. Dullsville. Let's face it. Quoting your fuel economy numbers is not a slam dunk pickup line at Club Med. Ripping off low ETs at the local dragstrip has a whole lot more "red-blooded-American-boy" appeal.
OK, so we forget about fuel economy and pursuing it doesn't get our juices flowing. The question I'm left with is this: Can efficiency get hip, slick and cool?
The answer is a qualified yes. It'll never compete with the rumble of a hairy V-8, but fuel efficiency can be made into something, shall we say, a little less wimpy. One way to make that happen is to make it into a game - the more extreme, the better. Think of it as a rather strange version of final jeopardy for competitive obsessive-compulsive types. Come along with me into the bizarre world of the Hyper-milers.
Hypermilers are the Hell's Angels of miles per gallon. These guys and gals play for keeps. A hypermiler is someone who regularly beats the EPA fuel economy estimates for a particular vehicle. The term is most closely associated with hybrid drivers. It's easy to see why. Hybrids make fuel economy hard to ignore because their whiz-bang video dashboards are continually rubbing the driver's mpg number in his or her nose. With fuel economy staring you in the face 24/7, you're almost guaranteed to get hooked on fuel economy like a hapless tourist wandering the slot-infested streets of Las Vegas. Even though the term hypermiler got its start with hybrid drivers, it's equally applicable to drivers of non-hybrid vehicles. Especially if they take it to extremes.
Extremes? Think you got game because you inflate your tires to manufacturer's specs? These dudes wouldn't think of turning the key unless their tires were pumped to at least 40 psi. Feel virtuous because you took off that roof rack to reduce aerodynamic drag? It's common for hypermilers to fabricate their own fender skirts and wheel covers to clean up their vehicle's aerodynamics. I was feeling cocky because I removed the passenger seat of my diesel daily driver to save unnecessary weight. That is until I learned it's not unheard of for a hypermiler to strip out their vehicle's entire interior.
Then there're maniacs like Mike Dabrowski in Connecticut at 99mpg.com. Mike has modified his Honda Insight with additional batteries, a fifth wheel (to move the car on electric power alone), more electronic circuitry than the Apollo Lunar Lander and regularly nets 99 mpg or better. Kind of the Hulk Hogan of hybrid tuners, I'd say. I should also mention Wayne Gerdes of Chicago, Illinois. Wayne was part of a team that drove a Toyota Prius for more than 1,200 miles, in two straight days of driving on a single tank of gas. The feat was featured in an HBO Earth Day Special Too Hot Not to Handle. Gerdes asserts "Anybody can be a hypermiler. It doesn't matter if you're in a Dodge Durango getting 10 mpg today. You can get 15 mpg tomorrow. It's going to save fuel. And this country needs that." I've heard Wayne will be featured in an upcoming issue of Mother Jones magazine.
Hypermilers like Mike and Wayne are wont to keep precise records of their experimental alterations and fuel economy results. Several web communities serve as watering holes for these intrepid souls. See cleanmpg.com for an example. Here notes can be compared and fish stories shared. Hey, what's the point of scoring big economy numbers if you don't have a place to brag about it after the "game"? This is starting to sound like fun.
Of course, Internet communities are just the tip of the iceberg. In the spirit of "anything worth doing is worth over-doing", there is the world series of hypermiling, the Shell Eco-Marathon. This annual event started as the "Shell Mileage Marathon" in 1939, long before anyone heard of hybrids, after an argument between employees of Shell Oil's research laboratory in Wood River, Illinois. The bone of contention was whose car gave the best fuel mileage. From the outset in Wood River, the rules were as simple as the concept: to see which vehicle could go the farthest distance on the least amount of fuel. In 1939, the winner achieved 50 mpg. Shaved tires, acid-dipped body shells, tiny engines and lots of coasting with the engine off were the hot ticket to economy back in the day. What about 21st century tech? In the 2006 Shell Eco-Marathon, the winning French team achieved fuel consumption of 6,786 miles per gallon! Beats your usual EPA mileage rating by a bit, n'est pas.? The vehicles aren't Geo Metro FX's or diesel VW Rabbits. They are purpose-built, carbon fiber, titanium and aluminum streamliners powered by gas, diesel, LPG, electricity or biomass fuel. This, my friends, is decidedly not dull fuel economy. The event hosted 255 teams from 20 countries this year back in May in Nagaro, France.
On another front, the fun facet of fuel economy is being infused into motorsport. NASCAR is considering E85 fuel and the legendary Le Mans 24-hour race in France was won by an Audi diesel vehicle that required less refueling stops than the competition. Across the pond in merry old England, the concept of Energy Efficient Motor Sport is taking hold. A rather compelling brochure is available for download at The Energy Efficient Motorsport. To quote from their material:
"Over the next ten years the Automotive Industry will have to meet the challenge of complying with increasingly demanding environmental legislation.
It is already widely accepted that non-fossil fuel based solutions are needed if future legislative targets for energy consumption and reduced emissions by motor vehicles are to be met. There is no doubt that the competitive and highly skilled engineers that characterize the staff of the UK's Motorsport Valley companies can make invaluable contributions towards creating these new solutions."
That's all well and good, but how can you play the extreme fuel efficiency game at home with your own vehicle? Here's a primer assembled from the radical fringe of extreme fuel efficiency enthusiasts be they hypermilers or just plain hyper.
In any vehicle, fuel is consumed to:
- 1) Overcome Inertia
- 2) Overcome Rolling Resistance
- 3) Overcome Aerodynamic Drag.
Overcoming inertia? Simple physics. Minimize mass by chucking out all unnecessary weight. Conserve momentum by avoiding the brakes like the plague. If you leave plenty of room between you and the next vehicle on the road, it's simple. Get off the accelerator pedal whenever you can. This means coast whenever you have an opportunity. Scan the road ahead to anticipate stops far in advance. This allows you to get off the "gas", coast along and perhaps avoid the need to hit the brakes at all. Discipline your right foot to avoid hard acceleration. Have a rarely used third row of seats in your SUV? Why drag it around town unnecessarily the rest of the time? Want to take this to extremes? Dump the spare tire, jack, stereo, and air conditioning. Lose 20 lbs. off your waistline. It might help your health as well as your fuel economy. Note the recent federal study on the cost of overweight drivers. Avoid coming to a complete stop. Do whatever you can to maintain your rolling momentum. It requires less fuel to accelerate from a low speed than from a dead stop.
Overcoming rolling resistance? Install narrower tires than stock. Wider tires increase rolling resistance. Performance handling or so-called "summer tires" typically have softer and stickier compounds that improve handling but detract from fuel economy. A tire with a harder compound and a high wear rating (e.g. 500+) has lower rolling resistance than a performance tire. Check load rating of the tires so you don't compromise safety. Pump yourself up. Go 5 psi over stock on your tire pressures. This reduces tire flex and improves mileage and sharpens handling. Pick a lane and stay there. Weaving in and out of traffic increases rolling resistance and lengthens your trip. Remember the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
Overcoming aerodynamic drag? Don't drive over 60 mph. Relax in the far right lane. Doing 70 vs. 60 costs you about 20 percent more fuel. Take off the rooftop carrier when not in use. Lowering springs minimize your frontal area and thereby reduce aerodynamic drag. Don't add big mirrors, extra lights, bush bars, rear wing the size of a picnic table or other optional items to your vehicles exterior unless you really need them. They dirty up your airflow and cost you fuel.
A warm engine is a happy engine. A happy engine is an efficient engine. Preheat your engine with a block heater if you can. Drive the first 2 miles of the day at moderate speeds. Most engines only get 10 percent of their rated City EPA mileage in the first mile from a cold start. Think 5 mpg for that 50 mpg diesel! A coolant preheating unit like the BlueHeat™ coolant heater can eliminate the poor fuel efficiency associated with a cold engine start. Avoid idling. At idle, your engine is getting zero miles per gallon. Idling is a lousy way to warm up an engine. It's much better to drive at moderate speeds getting some mpg rather than zero mpg. Combine short trips into one longer trip. Short trips kill fuel mileage because the vehicle never warms to its normal operating temperature where fuel efficiency is optimum.
Fuel efficiency is a game worth playing regardless of whether you use an alternative fuel or a traditional fuel. While some of the suggestions above may seem extreme, at least the majority of them have the virtue of being inexpensive. Keep consistent records to keep your motivation high. Fuel mileage recordkeeping is like maintaining a workout diary to chart your gym progress. Before you know it, you might find yourself enjoying the game of flexing your new fuel efficiency muscles.
One last thing. Lest we forget, the best way to save fuel is not to use it at all. Park the wheels. Walk a couple of blocks. Burning body fat is the ultimate "biofuel".
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Leszek Pawlowicz 1:48PM (11/09/2006)
I wish I could be more enthusiastic about the efforts of these "hypermilers", but I wonder whether, in the long run, their efforts are counterproductive.
1. They are apparently pouring large sums of money into their cars to achieve these savings, and it's doubtful they'll ever achieve enough in savings to offset these costs. Wouldn't it be better for them to put that money into extra insulation for their homes, fluorescent bulbs, etc.? And if they've done all that, give a donation to a local charity that provides energy efficiency improvements to needy families.
2. Making gas-saving "cool" is fine, but if you only score "cool points" for the major improvements in fuel economy that require you to re-engineer your car, you diminish the value of the small, realistic improvements that many more people could achieve with far less effort.
3. Reducing weight is fine, but once again, the idea that lots of people can gut the interiors of their car, and pull out their air conditioning, sets unrealistic expectations. And that recent study on overweight drivers almost certainly overestimates the fuel costs of being overweight. BTW, it wasn't a Federal study, but an academic paper in the Journal of Engineering Economics.
4. Recommending that you overinflate your tires is just a bad idea. Yes, you'll improve your mileage, and even improve your handling a bit. But your safety will suffer greatly - the reduced size of the "contact patch" will severely reduce the total amount of traction you get, especially on slippery or wet surfaces. Overinflating tires also increases rollover risks, especially for SUVs; the reason that Ford Explorers had such a low pressure specified was because they had a higher risk of rollover at normal pressures. Overinflation also means your tires will wear out sooner, because the wear is concentrated on a smaller section of the tire. And your ride will be harsher and bumpier. Not worth it.
5. Too hard an acceleration wastes fuel, but so does too soft an acceleration.
6. The drop in fuel efficiency from 60 to 70 MPH is more like 14% than 20%. And while you will save money by driving at the slower speed, it will also take you longer to get there. I calculate that it will cost you about $7 for every hour of time you save by driving at 70 instead of 60. Most of the time, I will drive more slowly, but sometimes the time savings does matter enough to make driving faster worth it.
7. I don't mean to downplay the value of walking - it's good exercise, and you will save money by reducing the depreciation on your car. But walking requires biofuel in the form of food, and our food production chain is so inefficient that overall walking doesn't save nearly as much in carbon dioxide emissions as you might think. By my calculations, one person walking is getting the equivalent of about 35 MPG in a car WRT net carbon dioxide emissions; others state values of 24 MPG or 75 MPG. And according to the DOT, the average one-way trip distance for car trips is 9.9 miles. Even with a brisk pace of 4 MPH, that's five hours walking for a round-trip, simply not practical for most people.
Improving mileage is a worthy goal, one that I work on all the time. But setting unrealistic expectations, and recommending practices that either don't work or don't take people's needs and realities into account, won't help.
http://greendrivinghandbook.com
Reply
Charles S 4:49PM (11/09/2006)
"They are apparently pouring large sums of money... counterproductive..."
... as oppose to millions spent on powerful racecars going round and round the tracks? I don't disagree that insulation of homes would pay off quicker, but the goal here is merging the love of cars with the focus of using least amount of fuel.
There are always many paths taken before we all arrive at a new destination; today's automotive technology comes from years and years of people who tinker with cars. Many people cared more about power and speed, but the positive status for such gearheads should not mean that it should exclude people who would like to focus on low fuel usage into their passion.
Maybe some would like to view hypermilers as extreme or misguided, but the better question is where do we draw the line on being "sensible" about cars and fuel? The "norm" today was NOT the "norm" a decade ago. First cars were light, then throughout the history vehicle weight changed as capabilities evolved. The world of automobiles would have been far different if we could squeeze out more than 100-hp out of car engines...
People used to live closer and commute less, and made out just fine driving below 70 mph. Suburbs probably isn't even a word a century ago, and living miles and miles away from work would be ridiculous. Yet, with today's transportation structure, we treat it like it's a RIGHT and that we will have unlimited supply of fuel to keep such lifestyle.
The point is that such "norms" are just the product of the current culture. Hypermilers may get smirks from the public today, but their status may as well change when energy truly become scarce.
Reply
Ray Holan 9:54PM (11/09/2006)
The hypermiler example of Mike is extreme. Most don't spend "large sums of money on modifications" as you decried. I suspect many of the techniques they employ are the same as you advance in your ebook.
Reply
Saabyurk 7:46AM (11/10/2006)
Leszek,
You are right about "5. Too hard an acceleration wastes fuel, but so does too soft an acceleration."
Back around 1980, Saab did some experimenting and found that maximum mileage/efficiency was obtained by shifting into top gear as early as possible, and then accelerating at full throttle. This eliminated the work energy of pulling the incoming air past the throttle plate, and allowed for a good charge in the cylinders which yields a higher temperature from compression, and better burning.
Of course, this may not apply to engines having direct injection and no throttle plate.
Reply
MikeW 11:16AM (11/10/2006)
Tire traction is limited by the specific shear stress of the tires. That is why drag tires run very low pressure-to avoid going over the limit. Higher tire pressure, if anything, will improve wet traction by 'cutting' through water, snow, and mud, assuming there is a center rib in the tread pattern.
'too soft an acceleration' waste fuel. In crappy old cars. The new civic automatic will lock up the torque converter clutch at light load acceleration in 2nd gear.
Reply
Ray Holan 12:56AM (11/11/2006)
Mike, thanks for chiming in on this exchange. I assume you are THE Mike. Kudos to you for your outstanding engineering on your Insight.
Reply
Ray Holan 1:07AM (11/11/2006)
Oops! I see it's Mike W., not Mike D.
Reply
Jimmy 9:25AM (11/11/2006)
#4 "maximum mileage/efficiency was obtained by shifting into top gear as early as possible, and then accelerating at full throttle"
This is exactly correct, and I've read several studies which concur. This technique is easy to do with a traditional manual transmission, but impossible in any automatic. Sadly, the newer CVT/DSG transmissions mimic the old automatic slush box, full throttle causes them in down shift and rev the engine. Even most cars with a "manumatic" transmission in "manual" mode will still downshift at full throttle.
Reply
MikeW 10:50AM (11/11/2006)
No. Just look at BMW's manumatic. Full throttle, no downshift. If you push the pedal 'past' full throttle then it will automatically downshift.
When Audi added the sport mode to the Multitronic in 2004 MY, the regular program D became more frugal, and the sport mode S became fun. And eventually audi added a virtual 7th gear to their manumatic gate, and increased ratio coverage to 6.6:1.
Full throttle should be avoided, keeping the throttle angle greater than 60 degrees is desired for significantly reduced pumping losses, but at 100%, acceleration enrichment 'dumps' lots of fuel for maximum power
Reply
Leszek Pawlowicz 1:53PM (11/11/2006)
MikeW:
The traction you get from your tires depends on how much of the tire is in contact with the road, the "contact patch". If the tire is overinflated, the contact patch is smaller, and you get less traction. The "cutting" effect you talk about has a trivial effect on traction under most circumstances.
The acceleration I talked about is from a dead stop or slow speeds to higher speeds; there, brisk acceleration (not flooring it) is the most efficient. Above about 30 MPH, you're right, slower acceleration is better, but as long as you're not driving your car into too low a gear by accelerating, the effect is small.
Reply
Jimmy 12:14AM (11/12/2006)
#9 "No. Just look at BMW's manumatic. Full throttle, no downshift."
You will note I said "most cars", BMW's manumatic is the best I've driven. I've also driven Acura and Mazda manumatics extensively and they don't give as much control. Chrysler's AutoStick four-speed automatic even counts as a manumatic.
The >60% throttle info is very interesting. Thanks
Reply
MikeW 11:21PM (11/15/2006)
You want a nice laminar type airflow above/below and around the throttle blade, full throttle is best, but 60 to 90 degrees is where its at.
I am not suggesting 50psi, but a hot of 37.5 is reasonable. But some super prius drivers (and others) do that, to the detriment of braking, especially with EBD.
Reply
Wayne Gerdes 10:36PM (11/18/2006)
Hi Ray:
___Thanks for the write-up!
___And to the rest, I drive a non-modified every day 05 Honda Accord PZEV w/ Auto.
Best FE over a tank: 1095.2 miles @ 58.163 mpg's.
Best range on a tank: 1,105 miles @ 57.269 mpg's.
Lifetime MPG's (year round FE) through Chicago's daily nightmare = 48.5 mpg's over 66,000 miles.
___I hope that settles some of this? Improve your techniques and the FE will come along for the ride.
___Last month, a group of 6 of us nailed down a 2,254.4 mile tank in a Honda Insight at > 164.x mpg's. That should hold the wolves at bay for a few years anyway! And enough of the fish stories ;-)
___I hope some of you can learn from the following:
Beating the EPA - The Why’s and how to Hypermile: http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1510
___Good Luck
___Wayne R. Gerdes
___www.CleanMPG.com
Reply
Mike D 10:39AM (3/01/2007)
I am the maniac Mike D.
The modifications I made could be repeated with improvement for 3-4K.
The 5th wheel could be a powered trailer that is jacked into the square trailer hitch of many pickup trucks, giving an EV mode for city driving.
By showing what can be done, I hope to wake people up to the very real possibilities that are available right now. Wait till you see my Prius and Insight full EV conversions.
Reply
Sean 2:25PM (8/08/2007)
Like anything, you can go overboard. the point is, incorporating some, even if not all, of these ideas saves gas.
I do, however, take issue with the "no warmup" suggestion. He's right, your gas mileage is 0 when you're idling at a standstill, but, the difference between getting 100,000 miles and 200,000 miles out of an engine lies predominantly in the warmup. The crankshaft bearing, connecting rod bearings and camshaft bearings are NEVER supposed to have metal on metal contact. They ride on a very thin coating of oil. When a cold engine is placed under load, the crank and cam (and sometimes rods) can actually "flex" forcing the journals, lobes, etc. into direct contact with the bearing surfaces, causing immediate, and potentially catastrophic wear.
This danger is even more pronounced when you go to thinner oils, as many hypermilers recommend.
My first new car was a 1987 Firebird with a 5.0 litre V8. I traded it in 1996 with over 170,000 miles on it. It still had 40lbs oil pressure at idle, and I never did anything to it except replace the alternator and water pump.
I traded the Firebird in on a 1996 Jeep Cherokee with a 4.0 litre straight 6. It has just over 196,000 miles on it. I did have to replace the head, but, it was because the guys at Firestone left the radiator cap off when I had the oil changed and it overheated.
I actually drove these cars hard in the past (especially the Firebird). It's only in the last few years that I've become interested in taking the lead out of my foot. I got them to last so long by following one simple rule, drilled into me by my dad, who NEVER got less than 200,000 miles out of a car.
Every time the car has sat for more than an hour, let it warm up at idle for 60 seconds before putting it into gear. If it has sat for more than 3 hours, warm it up for 90 seconds; for more than 6 hours, 120 seconds. I actually keep a cheap stopwatch in the console, and use it to time my warm ups. I'm a very impatient person, and, even though I've been doing this all my adult life, it's still tough.
You may waste a little gas doing it, but, doubling your engine life more than offsets it.
Also, the oil change recommendations of manufacturers are as bogus as the claims that soft drinks and coffee don't count as fluids propogated by the bottled water industry in the 90s. I change my oil and filter every 5000 miles. My dad never went less than 7500, but, I figure I drive harder than he did, and 5,000 is easier to remember.
Reply
Bert Melcher 12:58PM (5/30/2007)
Driving is fun as I play my “MaxMPG” game. This is a major element of our MaxGreen auto use, with the larger goal of reduced fuel consumption by MaxMPG and MinVMT (Minimum Vehicle Miles of Travel). I have a ’96 Nissan Maxima SE with 6-cylinder and manual 5-speed tranny. I live in Denver and most of my driving is urban non-freeway.
Re the MinVMT. My wife and I use Light Rail and other transit to the maximum feasible extent. It usually takes a bit longer than using the car but we reduce our VMT by about 20%, most of which would be gas-consuming stop-and-go and parking. Denver has a good transit system and we are one mile from a Light Rail station, and downtown we have a free mall shuttle with CNG-powered hybrid buses. (By 2017, we will have 119 miles of rail and many new buses due to a 2004 public vote for a $4.7 billion system expansion.) We use our cell phones to try to reduce travel and trips: when one of us is heading home in the car we call the other to ask if we can run any errands on the way home, to save the other from going out to a store or whatever. We schedule multiple stops and combine stops whenever we go out, and we simply avoid unnecessary trips or ones that can be made another day and combined with a necessary trip. The telephone and web save a lot of unnecessary driving, of course. We use my Maxima maximally because her automatic transmission Altima does not get as good mileage, even if I did not use MaxMPG driving. In addition to the transit use, these other approaches save another 10% or more compared to not doing them.
MaxMPG driving; all the usual things such as
• tire pressure,
• no jack-rabbit starts,
• staying at or below speed limit by as much as 10 or 15 mph in open road driving.
• Avoiding A/C use,
• Shifting to higher gear as early as feasible;
• When I see a green light change to yellow ahead, foot off gas and if safe and feasible, shift to neutral, braking so as to be still moving when light turns green and I can downshift without going into low gear and starting from a dead stop (this game is fun)
• Using “Kirgizstan Overdrive” (coasting) whenever safe, the fun part is estimating when to start coasting uphill if there is a downhill beyond, and how fast to safely coast downhill to get the maximum uphill coasting. I will take advantage of superelevation - going from the crown of the road to the curb- in slow situations to get just the extra gravity that I need. I also try to use maximum turn radius (like a race car driver) because this reduces the loss of forward momentum and tire scrub and enhances coasting and MPG. ALWAYS SAFETY FIRST AND COURTESY TO OTHER DRIVERS FIRST , OF COURSE!!!
• I wish I could readily compute my ratio of coasting-to-driving but I cannot really do this – I estimate the typically I can do 20 to 25% coasting.
• Seeking routes that enable an even speed with minimal stops at lights or signs, especially as and alternative to Level of Service E or F (a traffic engineering term for rating congestion. E and F are stop and go) on otherwise efficient routes
• Trying to avoid rush hour travel (such as not scheduling meetings that require rush your travel)
• Drafting – not very often, but sometimes okay
• Parking so I can get a rolling start, sometimes shifting directly to 2nd instead of low gear.
• Parking in a MaxMPG spot even if it means walking farther to destination.
• Never overfilling gas tank.
• Shutting off motor when stopped at a drive-in or other places with a delay – but not if unsafe or impeding other cars.
• As a result my MPG is up typically about 20 percent and on some trips as much as 33% over “normal” driving.
We can eat at good restaurants a lot more often due to savings from "MaxGreen" driving. Actually we should reduce this and put the money towards a really high-mileage urban car toreplace the Altima.
Reply
Mark L 8:37PM (5/30/2007)
Most of what I have read above is ineffective and mostly dangerous. Get a better job and pay for the damn gas. You won't have to be stupid then.
Reply
Gooser 12:30PM (6/15/2007)
Hypermiling is the best thing ever.
I've found this great stuff to spread the word!
http://www.CafePress.com/iHypermile
Reply
Jason 3:25AM (8/24/2007)
I understand and appreciate everyone's effort in reducing the waste of fuel to power their vehicles, as I too try to save when I can, as an owner operator of a semi I try to use biodiesel fuel when available and cut my speed back for the increase in mpg. The one very significant problem I have noticed is that far to many people have taken up this "hypermiling" craze in the wrong manner. Shutting the engine off and coasting around 25mph corners at 50mph, "drafting" 18 wheelers, these are the kind of actions that will get people KILLED.... plain and simple. I hope that those of you out there on this site that are looking to gain a few MPG don't follow these types of practices.
Reply