Hypermiling: Save Gas With Common-Sense Techniques
The price of gas today is outrageous, and the speed with which it has risen leaves most of us gasping. But what are your options? Hybrids are expensive and require you to buy a new car when you may owe more on your SUV than it's worth now. You can't dig your own oil well, and it's not practical to ride the bus. How can you survive with gas now taking such a huge chunk of your income? Hypermiling may be your answer. And this article will attempt a hypermiling FAQ.
This set of techniques have been developed by different people over the last eighty years of driving, but were brought together into one coherent set of rules by hybrid car owners who wanted to see ut just how many miles they could squeeze out of a tank of gas. The numbers are startling: some owners double their gas mileage. Others are able to get seventy miles per gallon out of a hybrid rated for about 35. And they do it all without making any significant mechanical changes to their vehicles, without buying gimmicks, without using special gas – only by driving smarter.You can start hypermiling today. While there are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of different techniques used, these are basic guidelines used by all hypermilers for maximizing their fuel efficiency.1. Proper maintenance is critical. This includes all the recommended stuff from your manufacturer, like oil changes and tune-ups on time, but it also includes constantly-maintained tire pressure and things like switching to a lighter grade of oil.
2. Reduce weight in your car. Keep it clean, and don't haul more than you have to. Your trunk is not a storage unit, and should not be treated as such. Really avid hypermilers have been known to remove seats and other unnecessary weighty parts of the car, but you don't have to go that far to see a real difference.
3. Speed efficiency is perhaps the most popular form of hypermiling out there. Just as your cruise control keeps your speed constant on the highway (and saves gas – use it when you can), doing what you, the driver, can do to maintain a constant speed with gradual stops when necessary will help maximize your fuel efficiency.
4. Gear choice (for manual transmission gas cars) and pulse-and-glide (for electric cars) are important skills to master. The right gear at all times, shifted smoothly, can save you plenty – as many manual car drivers already know. Electric car owners often increase speed to a set point, like the limit on the road they're on, and then glide without using power until they've lost much of that speed before “pulsing” again.
5. Watch acceleration, braking, and coasting habits. The closer to a constant speed you can maintain, the better your mileage. Also, try to coast to stops rather than getting close and then braking. Brakes cost you much of your fuel efficiency.
6. If your car has a trip computer (hybrids and luxury cars often do) use it to help you gauge when you have the best fuel efficiency. If you don't have one but your car was made after 1995, look into buying an after-market device like a ScanGauge, which will enable you to estimate your fuel efficiency at any given time.
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