Has your hybrid turned you into a hypermiling fanatic?
I can't help it. I can't stop myself anymore. I'm an addict. I must hypermile.Whenever I drive some place I've been before, I have to figure out how to get there on less gas. I have to. Is there a shorter route? Where are the hills? Are the street lights on a timer? I plot my course like a submarine commander heading into some crazy underwater canyon.
On residential side streets I often coast along like a gang banger looking for somebody from a different crew. Except I'm silent. Gliding through the hood almost unnoticed, and leaving little trail of pollution behind me. I'm the perfect criminal, only I'm not committing any crime.
Don't get me wrong, however, I don't just go 25 mph in a 35 mph zone and expect everyone to pass me so I can maximize EV mode. In free flowing traffic I always drive above the speed limit, but my typical commutes are rarely free-flowing. In my neck of the urban jungle, anything less than congestion is a danger sign.
So, I cruissssssssse into every stop light, stop sign etc. I'll even go a few blocks out of my way - mostly in EV mode - just to avoid a gas hogging hill, or to go down a battery charging hill - anything to increase my fuel efficiency.
Has your hybrid turned you into a hypermiling fanatic?
Labels: fuel efficiency, hybrid veicles, hypermiling
posted by Dahcredyns at
11:04 AM
4 Comments:
I admit that I call my 2003 Accord my gravity hybrid. I paid more attention to improving my gas mileage after getting our 2006 Prius 3 years ago. My wife uses that car though. So in my regular 4-cylinder Accord, I hit neutral, kill the ignition and coast where I can on the hilly roads of Western Pennsylvania. I estimate an extra 3 miles per gallon using this method. At 63000 miles my starter is still good.
Hey, I used to drive to fast. Using the Prius "Info" console with instant feedback of gas mileage and when the gas engine kicks in made it as much of a game to keep me occupied as speeding had been.
Goooosh! I care about environment, but not frantically. I still get 38+ mpg on average (over 2.5 year of driving), but I mostly save on highways by driving 55-70 miles instead of 70-85. Plus, I am far less tired when I drive 200 miles calmly. However, on my way to work, which is only 5 miles, there is not much to save :-)
kp - i used to love driving through traffic in my manual '94 nissan sentra. trying to cruise through traffic without ever needing to touch the breaks. i was hypermiling then, but i did it for fun, not to save gas.
even today, i'm not hypermiling to save gas or the environment. it's become a challenge again.
can i best myself? my console screen begs me every day, can you do better?
lb-
my fanaticism isn't driven by the environment, or saving gas. i just enjoy the challenge, especially on those short trips.
hypermiling might not offer huge gains in terms of fuel savings or pollution reduction in short driving trips, but it always offers a challenge.
and that challenge is what has made me fanatical about hypermiling.
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