Eco Driving / Hypermiling
- Details
- Category: Asides
- Last Updated on Thursday, 22 September 2011 14:45
- Written by Site Admin
- Hits: 589
With fuel prices reaching new heights, everyone will have a desire to increase the fuel economy of their car. One simple way to get more miles to the gallon is to use eco-friendly maintenance and driving techniques to improve your fuel efficiency. These techniques are collectively known as 'Hypermiling'.
Hypermilers use a variety of techniques to improve fuel efficiency, usually helped in newer cars with the aid of real time mileage displays. Using hypermiling techniques can drastically improve your miles per gallon, no matter if your vehicle is modern or not.
The word 'Hypermiling' originated from the hybrid vehicle driving clubs where people began to compare fuel efficiency of their engines. These people became Hypermilers, and the term stuck.
The more sensible hypermiling techniques are perfectly safe and legal, others are more extreme and may compromise safety, whilst some hypermiling techniques are illegal and not recommended! Some of the safer ways to hypermile are included below.
Driving Tips
Drive a car with manual transmission: If you’re used to driving a car with an automatic transmission, switching over to a manual (if you can) when you buy your next car might take a little practice, but it’s definitely worth it. Once you have more control over the vehicle, you’ll be able to master more hypermiling tricks. Driven correctly, manual transmission cars are more economical than automatics.
Stop speeding: The harder you press the accelerator pedal, the more fuel you're using. Drive a little slower on those trunk roads and you'll be rewarded with better MPG.
Accelerate moderately: Unless you’re trying to merge onto a busy road, accelerating slowly preserves fuel.
Run all your errands during one trip: Instead of running your errands several different times a day or spread out during the week, try stopping at the grocery store, video store, dry cleaning and (heaven forbid) filling station during one single trip. If you’re driving an electric car, this cuts back on its start-up time.
Let the most efficient driver drive: More than one licenced driver in the vehicle? Let the most efficient driver drive! And take the opportunity to learn from his/her wisdom.
Remove unused roof racks: If your vehicle come with a roof rack and you don't use it, remove it. Same holds true for bike racks. Doing so will reduce aerodynamic drag, resulting in better fuel economy.
Coast instead of braking: When you see a junction up ahead or a traffic light turning yellow, immediately take your foot off the accelerator and let your vehicle slow down by itself. If you wait until the last possible minute to brake, then you’re wasting all the fuel you used when you could have been slowing down.
Cruise Control: One automatic setting that can actually help hypermiling is cruise control, which can keep you at a steady speed on those long motorway trips.
Lighten the load: The heavier your car is, the harder it has to work to propel itself forward. Empty out your boot and back seat of unnecessary items, they're only burning extra fuel.
Find a route that's easy on your vehicle: Instead of taking the scenic route to work, which could include more hills, twists, and dips, try finding a route that features level roads and less traffic lights or junctions. Generally, a slightly longer route with better driving conditions could use less fuel.
Don't use the aircon or wind down the windows: It is generally accepted that air-conditioning increases fuel consumption by about 10 percent, but winding down the windows increases drag, which is also an enemy of good fuel consumption.
Don’t leave the car running: It may seem like a good idea to let your car idle while you dash into the store to grab the milk or drop off a rented movie, but doing so wastes fuel. Take the extra few seconds to pull into a real parking space and turn the car off first.
Use a fuel consumption display: Feedback is absolutely critical to improving driving habits. Tank-to-tank monitoring of your consumption is not good enough. You need instrumentation that lets you reset the readout at will so you can track individual trips, or even portions of trips you regularly travel.
Options for vehicles without factory installed fuel economy computers include the commercial ScanGauge and PLX Kiwi. Open source choices include the MPGuino and SuperMID. Even the venerable vacuum gauge can help.
Use the road less traveled: Generally speaking, if you have the option of choosing lightly traveled roads over busier ones, you give yourself more flexibility to employ a wider range of fuel saving techniques than if you are surrounded by other vehicles. You may even find that a somewhat longer, lightly traveled route may result in lower overall amount of fuel used than the shorter, busier route.
Leave early and don't rush: The enemy of efficient driving is finding yourself in a rush. Leave for your destination a little early so you don't feel pressure to drive faster, brake later and otherwise fall back into bad habits. Driving efficiently can be much more relaxing than the typical person's driving style, but you need to allow a bit of extra time.
Time your re-fuelling trips: Plan to refuel your car during off-peak times to avoid lines and excessive idling. Also, if you fill your tank early in the day, you will make a small saving since fuel expands with rising temperature, meaning you'll get slightly more for your money on cold mornings where the storage tank has had all night to cool.
Avoid drive-thrus: Avoid drive thru windows. They lead to excessive idling.
Minimize idling when stopped: If you're going to be stopped for more than a few seconds, shift to neutral and shut off your engine. This is one of the main reasons hybrid vehicles get such good fuel economy in urban driving. (this of course assumes your vehicle is in good condition and will re-start immediately, every time).
Close the sunroof at higher speeds: Some sunroof styles are better than others. The worst offenders are the kind which tilt and slide to the outside, on top of the roof. When open, these "roof-top spoilers" can significantly increase aerodynamic drag.
Use the 'racing line': Knowing how to pick the "racing line" through a corner, when safe, can help to preserve momentum. Generally, the racing line is the path through a turn with the largest possible radius. It may permit a higher speed with more comfort (less body roll and g-forces), and less tyre scrub. Even at low speeds, choosing the "racing line" has benefits.
Winter: clean off snow & ice: Completely clear snow & ice off your vehicle before driving. It will minimize your use of energy hungry accessories (defrosters), remove an aerodynamic penalty (increased frontal area), and reduce weight (a layer of ice and snow over an entire vehicle can weigh a surprising amount).
Winter parking: clean out the garage: If you have one, clean out your garage so you can park your car inside during the cold months of the year. The faster warm up will return better fuel economy.
Avoid 'warm up' idling: Don't idle your engine to warm it on a cold day. An idling engine gets zero miles per gallon. Start to drive - under light loads - as soon as the engine is running smoothly (usually immediately). It's a more efficient way to warm the engine and entire drivetrain, including tyres.
Be smooth: Smooth use of the accelerator, steering, transmission and brakes is not only more comfortable for you and your passengers, it's also a little more efficient (less scrubbing of tyres, energy lost through suspension movement). It's also better for the longevity of the vehicle and in general a sign of a skilled driver.
Look well ahead & anticipate: Your ability to drive efficiently depends on being able to anticipate changes in the driving environment. The way to do this is by constantly scanning well ahead in your intended path. In city driving you should know what's happening at least 10-15 seconds ahead. On the freeway, at least 30 seconds visual lead time is appropriate.
Maintenance Tips
Doing regular maintenance check ups on your car is another easy way to maximize mileage. Check out these helpful maintenance hacks that will keep your car running smoothly and efficiently.
Get an oil change: Keeping up with scheduled oil changes will help your engine run more easily. Adequate oil levels and fresh oil can also make a difference in how quickly your vehicle burns fuel
Check your tyre pressure: Soft tyres put more stress on your engine due to the rolling resistance of the tyre, which increases dramatically when under-inflated, making your engine work harder and burn more fuel. Keep a close eye in your tyre pressures and make sure they are always at the recommended pressure for your car.
Tyre Balance: If your tyres aren't balanced correctly, you could end up wearing out certain tyres faster than others. Get a check-up for your tyres if you think yours are out of whack.
Share this post
