There’s a new trend taking the roadways by storm. It’s called “hypermiling,” the fine art of using all sorts of tips, tricks, tactics and driving techniques to squeeze every last drop of fuel economy out of your car.It’s not surprising that, with gas prices at an all time high, this trend is building up.
Hypermiling has been the subject of reports by major publications and news outlets from Forbes to NBC, and it’s being discussed in car and driver forums all across the internet.
But is all the buzz about Hypermiling really inspired by new ideas, or is it just a new retread put over the same old ideas for saving gas we’ve been hearing since World War Two?
In the 1940’s and 50’s, when the war was making gas rationing a fact of daily life for most people, getting good gas mileage was a major concern for most drivers. In this case. necessity really was the mother of invention, and the techniques that were established during and just after the gas rationing back then turned into standards that have stood the test of time.
I’ll bet you already know the main fuel economy tips
Make sure your tires are properly inflated to the manufacturer’s suggested pressure (pounds per square inch.) Under-inflated tires will reduce your car’s fuel economy and, in addition, pose a safety hazard.
Getting rid of excess weight from your car can help you get better miles per gallon. Just removing that bag of golf clubs and the sack of cat litter you’ve been carrying around in your trunk for the last few weeks will save you burning extra fuel.
Observe the speed limit and drive smoothly. Rapid acceleration and braking burns fuel and will also burn a hole in your pocket. Smooth braking and acceleration, coupled with driving at the recommended speed will go a long way toward keeping more of your hard-earned cash. Bottom line is this. Don’t waste gas by accelerating up to red lights and stop signs, just so you can come to a screeching halt.
If your vehicle is equipped with cruise control, using it will help you to get better gas mileage, especially on long trips. A recent study showed that using cruise control at highway speeds offered an average fuel economy saving of 7%.
Other ideas are just basic common sense. E.g., don’t let your car idle excessively. Keep your vehicle well maintained.
These are all ideas the hypermilers embrace, but a close look shows there’s more to hypermiling than just recycled old gas saving maxims.
The dedicated hypermiler is obsessed with squeezing every last drop of energy out of every gallon of gas. And to further that quest, they relentlessly track down gas-saving techniques and tactics, put them to the test, using the latest technology to pinpoint what’s effective and what’s not and then work to refine the results.
All that on-the-road experimentation has produced a number of finely tuned techniques for improving on gas mileage to the point where many a hypermiler considers it commonplace to get 30 to 50 miles to a gallon of gas. Generally, this is achieved by minimizing acceleration and braking.
But if you think that hypermiling consists of nothing more than driving around like a little old lady (apologies to little old ladies) then consider this. Some hypermiling techniques are so hazardous that even fervent hypermilers will advise you to go to a professional driving instructor to learn them.
Hypermiling tactics such as riding in the draft of other vehicles are just a little too risky to try out on busy roads without practicing safely first. After all, what’s the point of saving money on gas if you don’t live to spend it?
