Per many requests, this sectuion is dedicated to discussions on fuel economy improvements and related modifications.

Good start for learning about hypermiling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermiling

:thumb:

Interesting reading!

Very cool! Thanks! I follow this closely




Goose

Question, what saves more fuel?

Situation: You see the light turn green up ahead. You are on the local road, crossing the highway. It's a short light in your direction, and a long light the other way. Do you nail the gas to get through the light, or do your slow roll, stop, shut-off the engine to wait for the light?

My choice is to nail the gas, as starting from a dead stop uses most gas. Am I wrong ? This also saves me time.

Question, what saves more fuel?

Situation: You see the light turn green up ahead. You are on the local road, crossing the highway. It's a short light in your direction, and a long light the other way. Do you nail the gas to get through the light, or do your slow roll, stop, shut-off the engine to wait for the light?

My choice is to nail the gas, as starting from a dead stop uses most gas. Am I wrong ? This also saves me time.

Depends on the distance to the light... nailing it could put you in the middle of cross traffic. :eek: If close enough to maybe just squeek in when the light changes red, then I'll do the same though... but, gotta watch the first cars in line (cross traffic) waiting to jump the light :scared: for a left turn before the light actually turns green.

Bottom line is, gotta watch out for the other guy. :steering: defensive.

P.S. no cops in sight - you could get a ticket.:nono:

Since I have a very analytical mind here are some basic calculations.

First the assumptions:
Gas price - $4.00 per gallon
MPG at a given speed - Taken from my observations and others posted here on the site (This will be the most debated)
The additional amounts are incremental to the previous calculation.

33 mpg
1600 miles round trip-- $4.00 $ per gallon
65 miles per hour-- 48.48 gallons needed
24.62 hours -- $193.94 $ spent

29 mpg
1600 miles round trip-- $4.00 $ per gallon
70 miles per hour-- 55.17 gallons needed
22.86 hours -- $220.69 $ spent

Additional time 1:45-- Additional dollars $26.75

25 mpg
1600 miles round trip-- $4.00 $ per gallon
75 miles per hour-- 64.00 gallons needed
21.33 hours -- $256.00 $ spent

Additional time 1:31-- Additional dollars $35.31

Total Additional Time 3:16 -- dollars $62.06

So is it worth it to go faster that 65 miles per hour?
If I go 70 MPH, I save 1 hour and 45 minutes but spend an additional $26.75, which is $15.28 per hour.
If I go 75 MPH, I save 3 hours and 16 minutes and spend an additional $62.06, which is $19.09 per hour.
My time is worth more than $19.09 per hour so I would spend the additional $62 to save 3 hours.

:twothumbs "What He Said"

Depends on the distance to the light... nailing it could put you in the middle of cross traffic. :eek: If close enough to maybe just squeek in when the light changes red, then I'll do the same though... but, gotta watch the first cars in line (cross traffic) waiting to jump the light :scared: for a left turn before the light actually turns green.

Bottom line is, gotta watch out for the other guy. :steering: defensive.

P.S. no cops in sight - you could get a ticket.:nono:

I remember when they first started coming out with cameras in the intersections,I thought great here comes "Big Brother". Now I pray my town gets them because you can`t move on a green without some Ahole running through on the red. Do you really think your going to save some minuscule amount of fuel to make this worth it. I hope your driving your family around sometime when someone pulls that on you. Will you think "hey,hes just trying to save some fuel"?

I remember when they first started coming out with cameras in the intersections,I thought great here comes "Big Brother". Now I pray my town gets them because you can`t move on a green without some Ahole running through on the red. Do you really think your going to save some minuscule amount of fuel to make this worth it. I hope your driving your family around sometime when someone pulls that on you. Will you think "hey,hes just trying to save some fuel"?

We have several red light cameras in this area - along with some of the worst intersections in the U.S. (Roosevelt Blvd (US1) and Red Lion Rd in Philadelphia, PA and Roosevelt Blvd (US1) and Grant Ave also in Phila.) according to AAA. I would never attempt that at either of those intersections or many others for that matter. All I was saying was that you need to be cautious when doing anything like that. As you said, Its just not worth the risk. If the light was going to be dead red as I hit the intersection that would be a no-no. The ones I was referring to are the ones that jump the light so they don't need to wait for oncoming traffic (see that waaay too many times a day too) - Not the ones with a left turn light.

BTW, I just read somewhere (may have been another thread on this board) that there are some people out there that have James Bond like flippy license plates to foil those cameras.

Mods, shouldn't this discussion be split off to its own thread?

Seeing as how this is about hypermiling, did anyone see the USA today I think on Thursday? There was a guy on there who comutes 85 miles one way and gets on average 100 mpg! Now yes he does drive a Honda Insight, but when one of his friends took those same statagies and put them to use on his Hyudia, he averaged around 50 mpg. I don't agree with all the ways they do things, I wouldn't follow three seconds behind a semi myself, but they seem to be making it work.

Seeing as how this is about hypermiling, did anyone see the USA today I think on Thursday? There was a guy on there who comutes 85 miles one way and gets on average 100 mpg! Now yes he does drive a Honda Insight, but when one of his friends took those same statagies and put them to use on his Hyudia, he averaged around 50 mpg. I don't agree with all the ways they do things, I wouldn't follow three seconds behind a semi myself, but they seem to be making it work.

There was a similar story a month ago on CNN, the so-called "King of the Hypermilers" who gets 48+ MPG out of his Honda Accord (non-hybrid). The problem I have with the methods he used involved safety and warranty issues - specifically, to use his "rolling start" method, you have to be able to start the car in neutral (he had an automatic), which requires disconnection or disabling of the neutral safety switch. Not only is this damn dangerous, it's also illegal in states like NY, NJ or PA which require safety inspections annually. In addition, this would more than likely void any new car warranty. Also, his method required the purchase of some very specific and expensive equipment, such as a cooling vest (in place of A/C), which creates some dubious results in terms of increasing MPG. At least on our cars, the A/C is designed not to pull that much from the engine - running the A/C on our road trip got us up to a total average of 35 MPG on the NY-AZ leg (top fuel range: 623 miles, beating my previous personal best of 603 from the East Coast G2G).

[QUOTE=
So is it worth it to go faster that 65 miles per hour?
If I go 70 MPH, I save 1 hour and 45 minutes but spend an additional $26.75, which is $15.28 per hour.
If I go 75 MPH, I save 3 hours and 16 minutes and spend an additional $62.06, which is $19.09 per hour.
My time is worth more than $19.09 per hour so I would spend the additional $62 to save 3 hours.[/QUOTE]


Yes this is all true. But at 75 I will get tickets in Ohio. So add about $110 or more to that 3 hours saved, and then add the $100 or more when your insurance goes up EACH YEAR. Moreover the best way to increase mileage is IN THE CITY. This tank my avg mph is 34. So a great deal of my time is spent around 25-40 in the city. My avg mpg is 31.3 this tank. You won't save nearly the time by driving faster in the city, and its much less wear and tear on all parts of your vehicle. If I need to get somwhere , i just drive as fast as required, that is usually 60mph on the highway and the max limit in the city +5.
Many people in this country get paid less than $15.28-$19.09 an hour after taxes..... $19.1-$23.88 before taxes...$38,000-$47,000 per year. So this information is VERY WORTHWILE considering that this is probably at or above tha average HHR owners yearly income, and some do not have the option of working overtime in lieu of driving slower.

I've been told that i am analytical also. So that arithmetic was just for you :)

i don't do anything more illegal than everyone else who is not "hypermiling". I occasionally roll a right turn stop sign...who has never done that. I do hit a few yellow lights, i often do +5 max in the city (40 in a 35), I never ever ever draft (what a dumb thing to do), and I have not modified a thing to my vehicle. My oil life still saids 31% at over 7000 miles. I get 36mpg on a warm day on a flat highway all the time at 60mph. I get 30 min in the city now that I refined my style over 7000 miles. I want to be the first to get 540 miles out of one tank with out my low fuel light comming on (approx 38mpg). I have succeded in 100 mile stretches at 38mpg (not downhill of course), but not for an entire tank.

Sorry to hear about the lower speed limit in Ohio. Here in Colorado we get to go 75 outside the city limits. And in the city limits vary from 55 to 65. In town I am averaging 28 MPG on my tanks.
As to the hypermiling, I coast when I can (manual trans), keep the tires inflated and shift between 2700 and 3000. I am not into reducing my safety to save a buck or two.

Yeah, most of the highways I drive are 60, I can do 65 maybe 70, but not a mile an hour over that. If you get on the turnpike, or 20 min outside the city, it goes up to 65. Even then, if you do 75 you are fair game. Just over in Detroit (probably alll of Michigan) I never see cops, and people frequntly drive 80+ in large packs. That will never happen in ohio.....for long. Ask the truckers about the buckeye state.

Since I have a very analytical mind here are some basic calculations.

First the assumptions:
Gas price - $4.00 per gallon
MPG at a given speed - Taken from my observations and others posted here on the site (This will be the most debated)
The additional amounts are incremental to the previous calculation.

33 mpg
1600 miles round trip-- $4.00 $ per gallon
65 miles per hour-- 48.48 gallons needed
24.62 hours -- $193.94 $ spent

29 mpg
1600 miles round trip-- $4.00 $ per gallon
70 miles per hour-- 55.17 gallons needed
22.86 hours -- $220.69 $ spent

Additional time 1:45-- Additional dollars $26.75

25 mpg
1600 miles round trip-- $4.00 $ per gallon
75 miles per hour-- 64.00 gallons needed
21.33 hours -- $256.00 $ spent

Additional time 1:31-- Additional dollars $35.31

Total Additional Time 3:16 -- dollars $62.06

So is it worth it to go faster that 65 miles per hour?
If I go 70 MPH, I save 1 hour and 45 minutes but spend an additional $26.75, which is $15.28 per hour.
If I go 75 MPH, I save 3 hours and 16 minutes and spend an additional $62.06, which is $19.09 per hour.
My time is worth more than $19.09 per hour so I would spend the additional $62 to save 3 hours.



SO..... if you do have a grip on the value of your time.... which almost everyone does to some extent.... it does make more sense to drive faster. That said, hypermiling is a pretty cool exercise for this analytical mind...