The Low Down On Green Living
June 5th, 2008
My Mileage is Better Than Your Mileage
Stumble it!
You may have heard about folks out there who describe themselves as “hypermilers”. What is that, you might ask? Well, it’s basically just someone who gets more out of a gallon of gas than the rest of us. Not a little more, though, but A LOT more - hypermilers can often nearly double the EPA listed mileage for a given car. One of the leaders in the hypermiler movement, Wayne Gerdes, can get nearly 60 mpg out of his 2005 Honda Accord (EPA est 34 mpg), and once got 127 mpg out of a Prius (EPA est 42 mpg)!
We all can learn from what they do, for their tips range from things we all should be doing anyway all the way up to the downright crazy / illegal things that it takes to get up into the mileage stratosphere. Some of the easier hypermiling tips and tricks are
- driving the speed limit,
- making sure your car is tuned and well-lubricated with tires inflated at all times,
- performing very gradual stops and starts (or picking routes that don’t require them at all), and
- not using air conditioning.
What about some of the more aggressive tactics?
- Pulling in behind 18-wheelers or other large vehicles and “draft” behind them, much as a NASCAR driver will do before passing for the lead. The problem is, this might put you in the truck driver’s blind spot (a bad idea) and also could lead you to tailgate (illegal);
- Driving much slower than the speed limit, risking fines for impeding traffic;
- Over-inflating tires (reduces surface area in contact with road but increases risk of blowout under certain circumstances);
- Riding with one set of tires on the white lane markers (reduces friction but risks having a cyclist as a hood ornament if you’re not careful);
- Shifting into neutral and turning off the car when coasting (very efficient, but can be dangerous because it eliminates power steering and brakes), or
- Choosing not to drive in areas or at times of high winds (???).
Clearly, this stuff takes practice, planning, a bit of OCD, and a certain propensity to push the boundaries of legality and safety. Of course, the argument is that saving $ and the planet make it all worthwhile.
For anyone interested in reading more, here are a few good links with tips and descriptions of the hypermiling tricks:
- From Edmunds.com, a good summary of the key techniques;
- A pretty comprehensive list of hypermiling techniques (on, of all things, a credit card comparison site!);
- And, last but certainly not least, the place where it all started, the online forum CleanMPG. This particular post is the motherlode of hypermiling info, and this link shows photos of the many of the devices and technologies that hypermilers employ.
We’d love to know what you do to improve your gas mileage - please leave some comments!
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Comments
Leslie @ the oko box
June 10th, 2008 at 8:52 am
I improved mine by just selling my car last week
Christina Smith
June 10th, 2008 at 9:20 am
The first 3 items are great. The rest are unrealistic - see below. I would LOVE to see Low Impact Living help us find ways/information that we can go to our senators with that would actually help us reduce our dependence on foreign energy - we have MANY natural resources here (e.g., coal, nuclear) that can be converted to CLEAN fuel sources - but the people have to get behind this and PUSH the out of touch government officials into the real world! First, living in hot humid Texas (our low this week is 75 - his near 100) it is dangerous to go without air conditioning - especially for the elderly or infirm - not to mention sweaty! The next 6 ideas - which you do stress that they are stretching the limits - are clearly dangerous and could encourage drivers to take actions that could endanger their lives and the lives of others. Finally, if I didn’t drive, I wouldn’t be able to live a normal live. The nearest grocery, etc. is about 10 miles away and we have no mass transit in the area. So I work from home, but telling us to sell ours cars and bike everywhere isn’t practical for millions of us who live in the “suburbs” so please do those of us who do care about the plant and are doing our best to find ways to conserve a favor and offer practical advice that real people can follow! Thank you.
Jan
June 10th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
It’s true that living in the suburbs makes it really difficult to conserve energy. In fact, the way we have set up our communities (i.e. separating commerce and housing) contradicts sustainability in many ways. However, there are still steps we can take to make things better. Certainly, creating better mass transit would be a good step. But I think there are also things that any community could do to help make itself more sustainable… Here are some ideas, with low-effort ideas on the left and higher-effort ideas on the right. What if we all did the low-effort tasks and picked just one higher-effort task to work towards?
1. carpool or take public transit whenever possible ….. live closer to work, school, and stores
2. grow a few vegetables in your garden ….. see how much of your food you can grow in your back yard, or share a garden with some neighbors
3. buy the most fuel efficient car that you can fit into your budget ….. prioritize so that being “green” becomes just as important as being financially solvent
4. consolidate errands so that you make fewer trips ….. figure out whether you really need all of the things you want to buy, and simplify so that you don’t need to run as many errands in the first place
5. go on vacations closer to home
6. work from home if possible, or work longer hours, fewer days/week
7. here’s a difficult one, but likely important: we all need to think about what “normal” means, and figure out what parts of “normal life” we’d like to change in order to make our society more sustainable.
The Hyper-Milers Are Coming! — Outdoor Urbanite
June 10th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
[...] strategies, sometimes getting as much as 60 MPG or more on a car that normally get 34 MPG. Some recommended hypermiling techniques are simple to implement and will definitely decrease driving stress and gas use. Driving the speed [...]
Don
June 10th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
On the aggressive tactics: 1) I believe if you check the information closely, it does NOT recommend drafting so close it could be considered dangerous, or tailgating. You can still see benefits from hanging back a safe distance. A car length for every 10 MPH is a good rough rule. 2) a speed limit is the maximum, not the speed required by law. If there is a minimum, it’s posted. If its 4 lanes or more, the other drivers should be able to pass safely. 3)Under-inflated tires will lead to tire failure before over-inflation. Just look at the maximum pressure thats on the sidewall. 4) Hypermilers are much more aware of the road and their surroundings, the cyclist is perfectly safe. 5) There is a time and place for coasting, you must get used to the feel of no power steering. But moving at speed, the vehicle is still fairly easy to steer - especially if its a light economy car. Which is what most hypermilers drive. The vacuum booster will be good for 1-2 applications. But hypermilers really try not to use the brakes often. Go to cleanmpg.com and read the tips and articles closely. Lots of good info.
Wayne Gerdes
June 10th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Hi Jason:
Thank you for the write-up but portraying some of the items above in the manner that you did without having a grasp on what hypermiling is and what it can do for you is beyond comprehension. Might I suggest that if you are ever in the IL. area that you come over my home for a hypermiling clinic so you can see for yourself in your car how to achieve almost double the EPA. This includes what is legal, safe and reduces the aggressive need for speed and getting there first that does cause accidents. Those of us that are following the speed limits in a ridge ride (it is done for safety, not to reduce RR except in rain) get chastised for doing so while we may be the only ones on a given roadway for miles that are traveling legally and saving tens of thousands of gallons of fuel for the rest?
Max sidewall reduces traction and causes blowouts? Again, you really need to spend some time with us to get the facts. Might I suggest you take the view point of a police pursuit driving instructor from http://www.officer.com –> Search “Tire pressure” and you will begin to learn why MAX sidewall is far safer for you than door pressure or below as many CleanMPG’ers have known for years.
Good Luck to you and yours.
Wayne Gerdes - Owner/Admin http://www.CleanMPG.com
Jason Pelletier, Low Impact Living
June 10th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Hi Don / Wayne:
Thanks for commenting on our piece!
We strongly support what you are doing, as we’ve long believed that we never get the straight story from either the car companies or (sadly) our own government about what we can do to improve fuel economy without waiting for electric or fuel cell vehicles to finally arrive en masse. You offer a solution that most if not all of us can employ TODAY.
I am certainly no expert in hypermiling (although if you need to green your home give me a call). If you are ever in LA, we’d love to round up a group to learn the tricks of the trade from you. I’m sure you can get out here on a couple of tanks of gas!
Donovan
June 11th, 2008 at 10:15 am
My car is a non-hybrid stick shift. Ever since I bought the car, I coast down hills with the clutch depressed, but with the engine running. I also depress the clutch and coast after I hit a certain speed, and when I slow down sufficiently, speed back up and repeat the process. Am I saving any gas by doing this? Or is my car burning more gas at the neutral rpm than it would be if my car was in the correct gear with that rpm?
Low Impact Living: Hypermiling — My Mileage is Better than Your Mileage : Gas 2.0
June 11th, 2008 at 10:53 am
[...] safety risks… so be very careful with some of the more aggressive methods. This post was originally published on Thursday, June 5, [...]
Jonathan Ciaccio
June 12th, 2008 at 8:02 am
I started doing some simple hyper miling things like coasting and starting slow and using the Cruise. I jumped from 44 MPG in a prius to 52 mpg. WHen I really try I get higher then that too. But that is consistent
Nancg
June 12th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Does it make a big difference hypermiling if you buy an manual or automatic?
Does hypermiling cause more wear and tear on the engine?
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