Experiments in Hypermiling

In recent years, expensive gas changed a lot Americans’ driving habits, and even spawned a new term- hypermiling. By making adjustments to one’s driving techniques and car maintenance, it’s possible to achieve significant savings in fuel consumption (check here for specifics from the guy who coined the term).

Not too long ago, the EPA updated their testing to reflect more typical driving conditions. The effect was that mileage estimates dropped quite a bit- the window sticker on my ‘04 Civic says 29/38, but with the new testing methods the revised estimate is 25/34.

^That’s her and I during our spring break trip.

By driving sensibly and taking care of your vehicle, you can easily get far better mileage than what the sticker says. My car has 112,000 miles, but I still routinely get between 33-38 overall. The majority of that is highway miles, but it’s still better than estimates.

Basically, I do the following:
-Drive the speed limit.
-Limit hard accelerations and braking.
-Keep up on maintenance.
-Keep tires well-inflated.
-Limit idling time.
-Try to cut back on A/C use when possible.

Most of these things should be common sense, but it blows my mind how many people still waste way more fuel than necessary by driving like maniacs. Ironically, it’s very likely that many of these lead-foot drivers are the ones who complain the most about high gas prices. That’s like complaining that you’re overweight as you down a Big Mac meal.

Why hypermile? There are several good reasons too.

1.) You help the environment. Less fossil fuel burned, less emissions, less carbon in the air.

2.) You save money at the pump. Even global warming conspiracy-theorists can’t argue against this one.

3.) Your car will likely require fewer repairs and last longer. My grandpa’s old Ford Escort is still running at 230,000+ miles. His secret? Regular maintenance and driving sensibly. Imagine that.

4.) You help reduce our dependence on foreign oil. President Obama acknowledged this one. Remember the off-shore drilling debate during the presidential race? Obama stated that if Americans would simply keep their tires inflated to the recommend levels, we would save as much oil as what would be produced by proposed off-shore drilling plans. The “drill-baby-drill” Republicans criticized him heavily for this remark, not surprising given their coziness with big oil. Obama was absolutely right though, and I hope at least some people took note.

Maybe I’m just nerdy, but I enjoy trying to get the best gas mileage possible. It’s like a game; I just tap into my competitive side and try to beat my mileage on the last tank. I keep a log in my car, then enter the numbers into an Excel Spreadsheet (screen shot below), where I can easily see my MPG’s over time while keeping a running average (35.567 since buying the car).

I’m also beginning a new experiment (which is noted in the last entry). Here in Iowa the 10% ethanol blend usually sells for 8-12 cents cheaper than the regular unleaded, so I always used to fill up with it without even thinking. However, it’s a well-known fact that ethanol burns less efficiently than gasoline, but enough to make up for the price difference? I figured that warranted a test. So for the next 10 fill-ups, I’m putting in the regular unleaded blend. Then I’ll calculate whether or not the (likely) increase in mileage is enough to make up for the higher price. It’ll probably be a matter of nickels and dimes either way, but it will interesting nonetheless.