Lead Foot Withdrawal

Everyone knows that the first and foremost trick in the hypermiler's book is a light right foot. It's simple, don't put the pedal to the metal and you will save on gas. Driving a gas-sipper helps a lot too. But what if you like the sound of a racing engine? The Soundracer V8 is the perfect car accessory for you. You can drive like a feather-footed granny, but sound like Michael Andretti!

How to Coast Like a Hypermiler

How to coast to save on gas.



Want to save on gas? Make sure to read tommorow's post. As one reader commented "I love your blog; it's like fluff up your popcorn and save on gas!!!"

Five Hypermiling Techniques Demonstrated

Here are some basic hypermiling techniques you can use.



If you want to save on gas using the car you already own, make sure to read tomorrow's post as it has more in depth information on one aspect of hypermiling: coasting.

Some Basic Hypermiling Tips

Hypermiling is the art of driving in a way that minimizes fuel usage. Your driving habits can have an enormous influence on how much gas you save. At the most basic, hypermiling is about maintaining a steady speed to avoid speed changes ... each time you slow down, you lose all of the kinetic energy stored in the motion of your vehicle, energy which came from burning gas. Note in the video the use of an instrument for showing instantaneous fuel economy. This kind of immediate feedback is a big help in learning to drive so as to save on gas. Without a device like a Scangauge or a built in dashboard fuel economy readout, you really don't know how different driving techniques are changing your fuel usage.

Hypermiling for Dollars and Gas

Hypermiling is the art of driving in such a way as to maximize fuel economy of the vehicle. The Golden Rule of Hypermiling is probably "Maintain Momentum". Think of your gas mileage when you are braking or idling: you are getting ZERO miles per gallon!

How to Save Gas on Hills

One way to save some gas is to efficiently go up hills. The trick for fuel efficiency is to never accelerate up a hill. Instead, build up a little extra speed on the flat as you approach the hill. This way you will be accelerating on the level instead of accelerating against gravity. Then as you begin to climb the hill, allow your speed to drop away. You can recover the lost speed with the help of gravity while descending on the other side. Using this technique you will only accelerate on the level or with gravity, never against gravity.

The video demonstrates this technique. If you have a fuel economy gauge included in your dashboard or if you have added an after market one such as the ScanGauge you can directly see yourself that this technique works. For those without such a gas mileage gauge, the video will have to do. By the way, anyone interested in fuel economy should seriously consider getting a real time mileage readout instrument. The feedback is invaluable because without it you really have no way to know your current fuel consumption.

This Hypermiling Couple Saves on a Lot of Gas

This video details the story of a married couple who has earned their place in the Guinness Book of World Records for low fuel consumption. They give out some tips as to how they do their hypermiling. Watch and learn!

Hypermiling in a Toyota Yaris

You can use as little as 2.00 GPHM (gallons per hundred miles) in a Toyota Yaris. This car is not a futuristic gas sipper and is easily available. Yet with the application of a few hypermiling techniques you can get excellent gas mileage with it.

Watch a Hypermiler Saving on Gas

Here is another hypermiler doing his thing. Hypermiling is the skill of driving in such a way as to minimize fuel use. You can see in the video that he is using the Scan Gauge II. The feedback generated by seeing your instantaneous fuel consumption rate really helps you learn to reduce it. The first tip given in the video is to coast in neutral with the engine on whenever you know you will not need to accelerate for the next while. His Scan Gauge clearly shows the benefit of coasting ... he gets 170 miles per gallon or uses only 0.59 GPHM (gallons per hundred miles). That is saving on gas!



The video gives the Hypermiler's Golden Rule: Maintain Momentum. Every time you slow down, you are dumping kinetic energy into heat and brake dust. When you speed up again, that energy has to be replaced and it comes from your gas tank. The video also shows a driver honking at the hypermiler as he slowly accelerates away from a light. You will likely encounter this kind of anti hypermiling peer pressure. It is a symptom of the almost total lack of hypermiling culture in the US. Maybe putting up a bumper sticker like in the image above could help!

Some Hypermiling Habits

Your habits can add up to have big effect on your life. Some are good and some are bad. In the case of fuel economy, developing a few simple hypermiling habits can noticeably boost your fuel economy without costing you anything. So without further ado, here are nine ways you can modify your driving without breaking the law or doing anything dangerous.

1. Don't speed. Stick to the limit.


2. Reduce your use of the brakes ... only when you have to


3. Don't idle your car. Turn it off.


4. Check your oil level and tire pressure regularly


5. Drive smoothly avoiding unnecessary and rapid acceleration


6. Try to slow down without actually stopping at signals


7. Never accelerate toward signals


8. Cut down on air conditioning use


9. Plan your route to reduce driving

Hypermiling Culture

Hypermiling is the skill of driving in a way that maximizes fuel economy. The fact is that in the US very few people have this skill. That is not surprising because it is not valued. Fuel economy has been a very low priority in America for decades. Witness the focus on miles per gallon here versus liters per 100 kilometers in Europe. In the US we want to know how far we can go on a tank of gas. In Europe they want to know how much gas it will cost them to cover the distance they must travel. India it seems falls in the European camp. This page has a video which shows signs installed in Calcutta which display hypermiling driving tips to the public.

The sooner that hypermiling culture starts to flourish in the US the better. Although better engine efficiency, improved aerodynamics and other technologies can help save on gas, the biggest single factor controlling gas usage is how much you drive and how you drive. If you are constantly doing jackrabbit starts, zooming up to the next light and slamming on the brakes to a complete stop you will use a lot of gas no matter how aerodynamic your car is.

Interview with a Hypermiler

Wayne Gerdes is a hypermiler, and one of the best. He can get more miles out of a gallon of gas than most people could believe. While his techniques are not all applicable to everyday driving, most of us could learn a tip or two from him about how to save on gas.

Here is an interview with Wayne discussing how to go 1000 miles in a Ford Fusion with only one tank of gas.

Hypermiling - Gas saving by habit

"Hypermiling" is the art of driving using practices and habits that give extremely good gas mileage. Watch as Sean Symons demonstrates getting 65 miles to the gallon in a hybrid Honda Civic. Notice how when he is slowing down behind the red truck at the lights the engine switches off.