I rolled into the office today with 345 miles on the tripometer. Usually I hit the gas station between 280 and 300 and put in 7-8 gallons of gas because I know I will not make it the 70 miles in without having to gas-up. But since my mileage was at 276 this morning and I still had a pinch over half a tank showing, I cruised on past the gas station and rolled into work 60 miles later with just under half a tank left. Looking good so far, but I know from experience that the bottom half of the gauge drops a lot faster than the top half. Still, I'm usually at 170-200 miles when I hit the halfway mark, so thats an improvement of 76 miles over the standard.
On a drive-time note, drivers seem much nicer during the the morning commute than the afternoon. Rt. 70 is 3 lanes each way and I stick to the far right slow lane. In the mornings, other cars just quickly move around me without a second glance - usually long before they get within 3 car lengths of my bumper. In the afternoon, however, drivers seem much angrier. I've been glared at and flipped off several times for driving 55 in the slow lane (still 3 lanes to choose from). A few driver made the point of slowing down to 55 mph long enough to stare over at me angrily. Twice large trucks have passed me and used half of my lane to do so. The middle lane was completely open, but I suppose they want to make a point or express their displeasure. One truck got so close all I could see was MACK in my rearview mirror before he swung out into the empty middle lane and passed me by. Silly, really. I'm thinking about bringing a camera along and taking pictures. That would be fun.
Aside from the angry people, driving 55 is very relaxing. No changing lanes, no worries about police with radar, no trying to get around other cars driving slower than me. Very peaceful.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Day 2 - so far, so good
It's not easy, that's for sure. Way more concentration than I would have guessed. I have decided to pick a handful of hypermiling techniques to focus on.
The big 5 -
1. Drive 55. Harder than you would think. I am making the commitment to stay at or below 55 on straightaways. It's all about wind resistance. Like moving you arm underwater - the slower you move it, the less resistance there is. When you are moving 80mph, your car has to force itself thru much more resistance than at 55, making the engine work harder and mpg to go down.
2. Pulse and Glide. The more extreme hypermilers actually cut their engine off while coasting, mimicking the way a hybrid engine works. That's a little too dangerous for my tastes, so I just shift into neutral. I have a standard transmission and its easy to go in and out of gear. Not as efficient as cutting the engine, but much safer for me. I have been able to coast for miles.
3. Driving like you have no brakes. The best line I saw was to the effect - every time you apply your brakes you are turning gas into brake dust. Maintain momentum. It takes a lot more gas to get a car moving from a stop than to speed up one already in motion. Plus, you can coast longer.
4. Long, slow accelerations. No more jack-rabbit starts. Accelerate slowly and evenly. Baby that engine. Use the cruise control to accelerate for a nice even acceleration in small intervals.
5. No air conditioning, windows up. This could be difficult. Right now, its not too hot out. But come summer, I drive into the sun on the way home and it heats the car up pretty good. I'm leaving my windows down at work so the interior doesn't heat up.
The minor ones -
4. Engine off if sitting for more than a minute. No drive-thrus, no running into the house with the engine on. Cut the engine as soon as you are in you parking spot. Apply parking brakes, turn off lights, etc after the engine is off. Seems small, but it can add up. Idling while not moving is just wasting gas.
5. Let gravity work for you. Park on a slope. That way you can coast to a start.
6. Pull thru parking. Park so you can just pull forward. That way you don't waste gas going in reverse, then having to start forward motion again.
7. Drive without a shoe. Seemed silly, but I tried it and I can see the reasoning. You have more feel for and control over acceleration and speed when you don't have the sole of a shoe in the way.
8. Empty out excess weight. I needed to clean out the trunk and backseat anyway.
Well, that's all of them. So far, they are taking a lot of concentration to maintain. We shall see what kind of dividends they yield.
The big 5 -
1. Drive 55. Harder than you would think. I am making the commitment to stay at or below 55 on straightaways. It's all about wind resistance. Like moving you arm underwater - the slower you move it, the less resistance there is. When you are moving 80mph, your car has to force itself thru much more resistance than at 55, making the engine work harder and mpg to go down.
2. Pulse and Glide. The more extreme hypermilers actually cut their engine off while coasting, mimicking the way a hybrid engine works. That's a little too dangerous for my tastes, so I just shift into neutral. I have a standard transmission and its easy to go in and out of gear. Not as efficient as cutting the engine, but much safer for me. I have been able to coast for miles.
3. Driving like you have no brakes. The best line I saw was to the effect - every time you apply your brakes you are turning gas into brake dust. Maintain momentum. It takes a lot more gas to get a car moving from a stop than to speed up one already in motion. Plus, you can coast longer.
4. Long, slow accelerations. No more jack-rabbit starts. Accelerate slowly and evenly. Baby that engine. Use the cruise control to accelerate for a nice even acceleration in small intervals.
5. No air conditioning, windows up. This could be difficult. Right now, its not too hot out. But come summer, I drive into the sun on the way home and it heats the car up pretty good. I'm leaving my windows down at work so the interior doesn't heat up.
The minor ones -
4. Engine off if sitting for more than a minute. No drive-thrus, no running into the house with the engine on. Cut the engine as soon as you are in you parking spot. Apply parking brakes, turn off lights, etc after the engine is off. Seems small, but it can add up. Idling while not moving is just wasting gas.
5. Let gravity work for you. Park on a slope. That way you can coast to a start.
6. Pull thru parking. Park so you can just pull forward. That way you don't waste gas going in reverse, then having to start forward motion again.
7. Drive without a shoe. Seemed silly, but I tried it and I can see the reasoning. You have more feel for and control over acceleration and speed when you don't have the sole of a shoe in the way.
8. Empty out excess weight. I needed to clean out the trunk and backseat anyway.
Well, that's all of them. So far, they are taking a lot of concentration to maintain. We shall see what kind of dividends they yield.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
The Prius
A great decision. We had a Honda Odyssey minivan as our primary family car. It was nice - good ride, spacious, could separate the kids, haul stuff. It was sweet. It also averaged about 16 mpg. Not an issue when gas was below $2, but with gas creeping up to $4, that would have been a costly fill-up. When we bought the Odyssey in , we had really wanted a Prius. But, our youngest was in a very wide carseat being only a year or so old, and the middle child was also in a good sized car seat. Try as we might, we simply could not fit those 3 car seats or 2 car seats and an adult, in the back seat. So we went with the Odyssey. It was a good temporary choice because we traded it in before the big gas crunch. We got our money out of it and a really good deal on the Prius as they were not in as high a demand at that point.
So, if we figure an average of 16 mpg in the Odyssey versus an average of 46mpg in the Prius - at $3.89 a gallon..... To go 1000 miles in the Odyssey would take 62.5 gallons and cost 243.13. The Prius would take 21.74 gallons and cost 84.56. Wow.
Now for people who say they need a big vehicle for their kids, we are a family of 5. Kids of 11, 8 and 4. Give them a Nintendo DS, some books, a portable DVD player, crayons, whatever - they are perfectly fine in the back seat together. Sure, they are more crowded than in the 8 passenger minivan, but we make do. Plus, the Prius is a hatchback and has a surprising amount of cargo space. We'll be driving it 8 hours to the beach sometime this year, so we'll really test it out.
158 dollar difference every 1000 miles. Figuring 12,000 miles a year and gas never going up from $3.89 - that's a savings of $1902.84. Covers the DS, 2 Leapsters and a DVD player with money to spare.
Oh - you can easily haul 300 pounds of feed in the back at the same time. And the backup camera is pretty cool too.
So, if we figure an average of 16 mpg in the Odyssey versus an average of 46mpg in the Prius - at $3.89 a gallon..... To go 1000 miles in the Odyssey would take 62.5 gallons and cost 243.13. The Prius would take 21.74 gallons and cost 84.56. Wow.
Now for people who say they need a big vehicle for their kids, we are a family of 5. Kids of 11, 8 and 4. Give them a Nintendo DS, some books, a portable DVD player, crayons, whatever - they are perfectly fine in the back seat together. Sure, they are more crowded than in the 8 passenger minivan, but we make do. Plus, the Prius is a hatchback and has a surprising amount of cargo space. We'll be driving it 8 hours to the beach sometime this year, so we'll really test it out.
158 dollar difference every 1000 miles. Figuring 12,000 miles a year and gas never going up from $3.89 - that's a savings of $1902.84. Covers the DS, 2 Leapsters and a DVD player with money to spare.
Oh - you can easily haul 300 pounds of feed in the back at the same time. And the backup camera is pretty cool too.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
The beginning
I am starting this blog because this week, I committed myself to seeing how much I could improve my gas mileage. I saw a website over the Memorial day weekend showing a Honda Civic that had been altered to make it more aerodynamic and the owner was getting 90 mpg in a non-hybrid, non-electric car. http://blogs.edmunds.com/Straightline/3986 Way too cool. So as I am reading about it and thinking how I could do something similar, I found all these sites on hypermilers. Hypermilers are drivers who exceed - often dramatically - the EPA estimated mileage for their vehicle by modifying their driving habits and sometimes their vehicle as well. Some of the modifications are extreme, many are not. Well, this seemed a lot easier start than riveting sheetmetal to my car, so I did a lot more reading about the hypermiler techniques. No A/C, pulse and glide, drafting, driving without brakes, 55 mph, slow starts, avoiding stopping, using gravity, etc, etc. I decided to start incorporating some into my driving style to see what effect they would have.
Some background on my commute. 3-4 days out of the week I commute to Baltimore. 69.36 miles, one way according to MapQuest. 48.9 miles of this on Rt 70, a 6 lane East-West highway. 10 miles are rural backroads. 5 miles are around the Baltimore Beltway and up 95. Only about a mile or 2 are actually in downtown Baltimore. If you are familiar with Baltimore, I work in the Camden Yards area, next to both stadiums.
For the last year, I've been driving the Civic to work and tracking the mpg with the tripometer and gas pumps. I typically get between 36 and 42 mpg. Not bad. My speed tends to be between 68 and 78 miles per hour with the cruise control on. I toyed with 60 mph for a while but did not see much difference. So, if I drive 4 days to work, at 560 miles per week - then you figure I average 38 mpg (being conservative) - that's 14.74 gallons per week. Gas was 3.89 this morning, so it's 57.33 dollars per week. Ouch. If I was getting 45 mpg, I'd be saving about $9 a week, or $468 a year of gas stayed at 3.89. At $4.25 a gallon, that become $10 a week. $15.05 a week if I were getting 50 mpg. Ooooooo - lets see if I were getting the 90 mpg of the modified aero-civic. That would be 36.21 a week, or 1882.92 a year in savings.
Well, I don't see myself building an aero-civic just yet, so lets see what a few modifications in driving techniques do.
jim
Some background on my commute. 3-4 days out of the week I commute to Baltimore. 69.36 miles, one way according to MapQuest. 48.9 miles of this on Rt 70, a 6 lane East-West highway. 10 miles are rural backroads. 5 miles are around the Baltimore Beltway and up 95. Only about a mile or 2 are actually in downtown Baltimore. If you are familiar with Baltimore, I work in the Camden Yards area, next to both stadiums.
For the last year, I've been driving the Civic to work and tracking the mpg with the tripometer and gas pumps. I typically get between 36 and 42 mpg. Not bad. My speed tends to be between 68 and 78 miles per hour with the cruise control on. I toyed with 60 mph for a while but did not see much difference. So, if I drive 4 days to work, at 560 miles per week - then you figure I average 38 mpg (being conservative) - that's 14.74 gallons per week. Gas was 3.89 this morning, so it's 57.33 dollars per week. Ouch. If I was getting 45 mpg, I'd be saving about $9 a week, or $468 a year of gas stayed at 3.89. At $4.25 a gallon, that become $10 a week. $15.05 a week if I were getting 50 mpg. Ooooooo - lets see if I were getting the 90 mpg of the modified aero-civic. That would be 36.21 a week, or 1882.92 a year in savings.
Well, I don't see myself building an aero-civic just yet, so lets see what a few modifications in driving techniques do.
jim
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