I've joined the few, the slow... the "hypermilers".

Barb's going to hate me for this, but I've officially joined the ranks of the hypermilers. I couldn't have picked a better time to do it as she's away on business all this week. See, I've been trying to hone my skills on the last few tanks of fuel, but quite honestly, it was driving her batty as a passenger. "Stop driving like a granny" was her common retort, which is only marginally better than the "Make a legal U-Turn" that my GPS shouts when I go off-route and it can't keep up.

Anyway, the inititiation was pretty simple and involved no hazing or car washing. I simply hit up the forums at CleanMPG and registered myself and my car.

Most of the vehicles are small, light and highly efficient like the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius. There aren't too many Hybrid SUVs like we have: we took stock of one of the first Toyota Highlander Hybrids that rolled out of production in 2005. So to be honest, I can't compete with some of these folks that can average 80-plus miles to the gallon for an entire tank of fuel. I've got a few factors against me with the SUV: poor aerodynamics, a 6-cylinder engine, greater weight and the AWD option that kills fuel efficiency in the Pennsylvania winters.

Still, as you can see by the graphic above, my first tank as a hypermiler yielded more than the EPA fuel estimate for my vehicle. And the techniques actually weren't that difficult... I think the hardest part was listening to all of the passengers complain when I was driving under the speed limit. Some of the approaches to fuel efficiency are simple common sense: drive slower and smoothly, maintain your vehicle properly and choose are route with fewer stops. The more advanced techniques? I'm taking them up one-by-one as the situation allows because you still have to drive safely as folks are flying by you on highways. It simply wouldn't be safe to drive 40mph on a 65mph freeway during a peak traffic time.

In any case, I'm allowing for more time for all of my travel these days and to be honest: I'm actually enjoying the ride more. It's less stressful and I'm noticing things on my travels that I somehow missed before. As far as the die-hard hypermilers? When you look at the vehicle logs for all of the registered drivers, you'll see that collectively they've saved over 172,000 gallons of fuel so far. I suspect that's based on how much fuel mileage they see over the baseline EPA estimates. Regardless: you don't need a "hybrid" vehicle to join the ranks. Take a look in the forums and you'll see various cars of all makes and models. You'll also see pleny of passionate drivers that are doing what they can to get the most out of every drop of gas. Take a look: you might learn something that saves you just a few bucks a week. It all adds up and could come in handy when as you save for the next gadget on your wish-list.

Special thanks to Dan Bryant in Houston. Our recent mention of his news spot got me interested in this and James arranged an e-mail intro. Dan even has a Facebook group for the Houston Hypermilers right here if you're interested. While I'm happy with my amateur status, Dan's a professional at this. He participated in a Hypermile Challenge last week and averaged 129 MPG on the 16 mile course!

Comments

[Mickey Segal]

Two other tips:
1. Fast accelerations seem to reduce MPG hugely.
2. Hilly routes are worse than flat routes.

Unfortunately the Toyota Camry Hybrid only reports up to 40 MPG for a trip, and even though I can often pin it over 40 MPG I get information from the times I don't. There is an instantaneous reading, but I can't watch that because I'm driving. There is also a tank average, but it involves too much history to be useful except for long trips (where 55 MPH speed limits give about 45 MPG and 65 MPH speed limits give about 37 MPG).

Spending some time with such feedback teaches skills useful in other cars too. Raising the trip report to show over 40 MPG would make such learning even better.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

That's a shame on the Hybrid trip reporting Mickey. My 2005 has an in-dash 7-inch display that shows fuel consumption up to 99.9 mpg, although the graphical bars top out at 60 mpg. I also have a nice display option that shows when the engine is in use vs. either (or both) of the two electrical motors. Here's a VERY old pic from 2006: http://photos1.blogger.com/photoInclude/blogger/5476/585/1600/100_19391.JPG

[Mark]

My Suzuki Burgman 400 gets 75 mpg on a bad day and does 100 mph on the highway.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Mark, that's great mileage and if I could get away with a Vespa or Suzuki like you have, I surely would. Unfortunately from a vehicle standpoint that's not possible for me. We're a family of four and our kids have activities all over the place. Plus we live in VERY rural community where at least one AWD or 4WD is a must. The Ford Escape Hybrid was too small for our needs so we ended up with what I think is the best vehicle for our needs. For local single trips in good weather, I get on my Trek road bike, but that's the best I can do.

[Michael]

I always figured driving super fast and thereby minimizing my time on the road seemed to be the best in terms of fuel usage, gas emissions and also avoiding drunk drivers.

but since i haven't driven more than a couple days in almost a year, my theories may be a bit outdated now. :-)

[Chris K]

If you're balancing between a road bike and a car, you might want to publish THOSE numbers, too. How many miles do you do on the bike between fill-ups for the SUV?

That's how you lord it over us scooter-types. Mind you, I am hopelessly aggressive off the line on mine, and I'm still getting 62mpg, but for a milk run where you might take a bicycle, I take the scooter. If I kept my speed below the vaunted 35mph mark (that's where you're spending more fuel on overcoming drag instead of the sheer weight of the bike,) I'd probably do even better, but I just don't have the patience, and neither do the commuters behind me. C'est la vie...

[Steve 'Chippy' Paine]

So I guess my average 6.2 litres per 100km (44mpg) for the last 4 years in my BMW on German Autobahns is pretty good then?
I tried the go-slow for one week a few years ago and got 57mpg but going slow on the Autobahns is just too dangerous!!

Top work though Kevin. I realise how different it is in the U.S.

Steve.

[Rob]

"My Suzuki Burgman 400 gets 75 mpg on a bad day and does 100 mph on the highway.

Posted by: Mark"

Yep. Although my Yamaha FJR goes faster :)
As to Kevin's comment, my 2003 mountaineer AWD gets horrible gas mileage. But, it's paid off, and only sees occasional use compared to the bike.

[John in Norway]

I'm ashamed of you Kevin! Instead of driving your offspring to sports and other socially interactive events why don't you sit them down in front of the telly or computer like most other parents?