Hypermilling

Another cool word for a decidedly less cool concept. Anyway, hypermilling is a fancy word to describe "driving in a manner to get the maximum amount of gas mileage out of your vehicle". I've been trying some, and only some, of the techniques, and I've found they actually can be very effective. My car theoretically gets 26/34 mpg city/highway. I'm currently averaging around 32 mpg total. That's nuts. With gas a $4 a gallon, that saves me close to $20 a month, which is small but statistically significant. Assuming your car doesn't do 26/34 (hahahahahahaha suckers), if you can improve your mpg then you're really doing yourself a favor.

So how does one hypermill? Well, firstly, you need a manual transmission car or a true hybrid to do it. These techniques work best for the hybrids, but aren't bad for manuals. There are a few things you can do in an automatic, but I don't think you'll see the impressive mpg boost I have. So anyway, here's the techniques I use based on how useful I find them:

• Accelerate gently. Yes, drive like you're old. This is probably the biggest improvement you'll see in any car, including automatics. The reason is totally physics. If you jam on the accelerator from a total stop, you're bring potentially tons of weight to a speed quickly thus using more gas to get to the speed limit. If you accelerate more slowly you're using far less gas and still getting to the speed limit (eventually anyway). Don't be a total douche and drive über slow if there's people behind you, but you don't have to try to do a 0-60 in 5 seconds every time you take off.


• Maintain steady speed.I thought this sounded like a load of hooey (or bullshit if you don't like my 50's cursing), but according to Edmunds.com (car review people) if you can maintain a single speed it will markedly improve your milage. Even better, if you have cruise control a computer will control a single speed, taking your foot out of the equation. Having tested it myself, I have to say I'm pretty damn sure this works.


• Drifting in neutral. Now we're in slightly dangerous territory, especially if you're stupid enough to try this in an automatic, but this works wonders. If you're on a hill, and you're going down said hill with your foot on the gas the whole way, or using your engine to control your speed, you're using gas. If you drop your car into neutral and control speed with your brakes then you're using considerably less gas. You can test this by just looking at your engine's rpms. One thing worth noting is that some hypermillers say you should turn off your car when going down a hill and then kick start your car at the bottom. While this is a way to save even more gas, it's VERY DANGEROUS since most modern cars have power steering/brakes/etc which could easily get you killed if there's any kind of situation you need steering or braking for, like, oh, the bottom of a hill with a kid crossing the street. Got it?


• Sitting still? Turn off your car.While this makes some sense, there is the valid question of how much gas you're actually saving considering that, depending on the car, it can take a considerable amount of gas to start your car. The best answer I have is that if your car starts really easily, twenty seconds or more means you should turn off your car, otherwise just skip this one.


• Drafting larger vehicles, especially tractor trailors. This definitely works really, really well. It's just illegal to follow a truck really close. Though you literally can drive within six to twelve inches of a big rig and turn off your car and drift in neutral behind it, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T DO THAT. So dangerous. However, following a truck at two to three seconds is still enough to get remarkably better gas mileage. So don't be a dick, but following trucks will help even if you're following at an appropriate distance. Neat.


• Lighten the load. Take every unnecessary item out of your car. Seriously. A lighter car gets better gas mileage. Granted taking ten CDs out of your car won't do shit, but if you've got extra shit you don't need in your boot (trunk), get rid of it. Some hypermillers say you should take out your spare tire and jack, as they're heavy, and rely on AAA to save you. PLEASE DON'T BE THAT STUPID. The emergency wheel is there for a very fucking good reason, leave it alone.

The only other nonsense I have tried is, as far as I can tell, either just nonsense, fucking dangerous, or gives such an imperceptible improvement, if any, that they're not worth the effort. As far as I'm concerned hypermilling should be about bang for the buck. What I've listed are the easy and relatively safe things that I do that I have found to be effective. If you're looking to save some coin, try 'em out and let me know how you do!