Gas Saving Tips: Hypermiling Part 2

OK, so now on with the show! Here's the post you've all been waiting for, detailing exactly what I did to literally double my gas mileage overnight (see copies of my gas receipts and calculations to the left). Please note that the receipt on the left reflects in-town driving only with only minimal hypermiling techniques. The receipt on the right shows the results of my recent day trip with a concerted effort into hypermiling, including the one physical modification to the vehicle that I will reveal below. Absolutely anyone can do this, although your mileage may vary (YMMV). Keep in mind that there was only 1 modification to the vehicle itself (which was free and can be performed by practically anyone); the rest of these steps are simply a way to "re-train" yourself to drive in a way to save gasoline.

Basic Hypermiling Tips

1. Air up your tires! While most people realize that an under-inflated tire can result in a loss of fuel efficiency, they don't usually understand why. Lower pressure tires have more surface area in contact with the ground, which increases friction and drag on the vehicle. While it may not seem like much, every little bit counts. Now here's the trick to take this simple step to the next level with hypermiling.

Most people air up their tires to the recommendations of the car manufacturers. What is this based on? The car manufacturer doesn't know what type or rating of tire you will put on your vehicle, so how can they make a broad-based recommendation? They base it on the way the vehicle rides and the noise level from the tires and resulting comfort level of the passengers. Does this matter as much to you as fuel efficiency? It really doesn't to me ... of course my vehicle is over 10 years old anyway (LOL), but at least it's paid for ;-). So hypermilers take this to the next level by increasing their tire pressure to reflect the MAXIMUM rating for the tire, according to the tire manufacturer. As a result, less of the tire comes in contact with the ground, resulting in less friction. There is a slight increase in road noise and also you feel the road a bit more in the steering, but nothing I would consider to be a deterring to using this. So for me, this meant airing up my tires to 44 psi.

2. Accelerate and decelerate slowly from start to finish. When taking off from a stop, don't gun it! Slow down and accelerate at a slow, even pace. Work up to where you want to be and stay there. When you see a red light or stop sign coming up, let off the gas way in advance and coast. One hypermiler recommended keeping the vehicle's RPMs under 1800, but I found on my '96 Mercury Villager with an automatic transmission that this was virtually impossible. It wouldn't shift into 3rd gear unless I took it up to about 2100 RPMs. So, I made that my goal. The entire trip I adjusted my driving to keep my RPMs under 2100. The only exceptions were when I had to go uphill, in which case I increased my RPMs just enough to maintain speed, which ended up being around 2400.

3. Always stay under the speed limit and don't go over 55 mph on the highway. While staying under the speed limit is always a good idea (it is the law, after all), most people find themselves inching above it all the time. Just try it and I think you will find it can make all the difference. When I'm on a flat surface or in town, I use cruise control to help me maintain a lawful speed just under the speed limit. Keep in mind that cruise control on most vehicles doesn't work until you reach 30 mph or so. OK, so what about limiting yourself to driving 55 on the highways? Sounds like a granny move, right? Well, it might sound that way, but it can definitely save on your gas consumption.


Take a look at this general chart from a government study. It shows that optimal fuel efficiency is reached at about 50 mph and starts dropping off above 55, with a significant drop at 60+. So what about making it there on time? Ever heard of starting early? Honestly, changing your driving habits from going 70 mph (you weren't speeding were you?) to 55 mph does take some effort. Again, I used cruise control to help me out here, as my foot tended to get a bit heavy. So how much time did I lose? Well, let's figure it out.

My total trip was 96 miles. Although my average was lower because of red lights and stop signs, city speed limits and such, let's say for the calculations that my speed was a constant 55 vs your 70. It would take you 82 minutes at 70 mph to make the trip, while it would take me 104 minutes. So you arrive 22 minutes earlier than me, or I would have to leave 22 minutes earlier to make up the difference. But, all other things being equal, would more than doubling your gas mileage make it worth it? It sure does it for me, especially with gas prices as high as they've been!

OK, there you have it! Those are three of the basic steps that I took to go from an average of 18 mpg on the road to a whopping 51 mpg! Lest you think that my trip was all highway (and I still have never gotten that type of mileage on the highway either), here is a map of my trip route. As you can see, it winds through several small towns (yes, red lights) and has ample opportunity for both city and highway driving.


View Larger Map
Finally, last but not least, I wanted to leave you with another excellent news report on how hypermiling is changing the way people drive, and driving fuel economy beyond what you could ever have imagined...

Gas Saving Tips: Hypermiling Part 1

I wanted to take a few minutes to share with you something extraordinary that can literally double your car's fuel economy, blowing away the EPA mpg ratings. What is it and how much will it cost, right? Well, it's called hypermiling and the techniques are actually free. Just to get started, here's the video that ultimately led me to investigate just what this hypermiling thing was all about:

Now lest you think I'm crazy, I'm not some advanced guru on the subject like this guy. He's the nuclear engineer who came up with the idea. Me? I'm just you're average Joe trying to make sense of the rising fuel costs and figure out any way I can to combat the effect on my bottom line.

The problem actually started about two months ago. As a matter of routine inspection, we randomly check our mpg on our main vehicle every once in a while. The vehicle is a 1996 Mercury Villager with over 160,000 miles on it. It's not in bad shape, but it's not in the best shape either. Well, when we purchased the van used, we were getting somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 mpg, which was right on the mark for the EPA ratings, surprisingly. After a few years and adding over 70,000 of our own miles ... we were getting roughly 12 mpg. Yes, that's right, 12 mpg. I about freaked out, to be honest.

So, I did a complete maintenance overhaul, otherwise known as a tune-up. Turned out that the spark plugs and wires were in pretty bad shape, not to mention the distributor cap than had a broken center pin in it! After it was all said and done, and I replaced the air filter as well, ... we tested again. I spent roughly $100 on the tune-up (but keep in mind, this should be a regular maintenance item anyway) and we were coming in at an average of 18 mpg. An improvement to be sure, and still in range of the EPA rating, but I had been hoping for more. That's when I saw the CNN video with Wayne Gerdes. Talk about inspiring!!!

So I did it. I took the hypermiling plunge and ate the blue pill (or was is the red one - I can never keep it straight). I utilized three or four of the basic techniques that I found on Gerdes' website today and took a trip to pick up some stuff from a Freecycle contact. Since the merchandise was free, I figured it was a steal even though the round trip would be close to 100 miles. So I filled up the tank before I left and set out with a rugged determination to hypermile my rear off!!! Just for the record, our in-town driving prior to this trip (as measured when I topped off) was averaging just over 13 mpg ... pretty crappy to be sure.

So I completed the trip and the detour to top back off when I came back. It took a little longer to be sure, as one of the tips has to do with adjusting and modifying your maximum speed. However, it only added about 10 minutes to each end of a 1 hour trip, so I didn't think that was too bad. The key would be did it help my fuel economy any? Well, the total trip was just over 96 miles, and when I topped off again I put less than 2 gallons of gasoline back into the van. OPEC hates me now, I'm sure of it. But the calculations revealed that I had hypermiled my way to 51 mpg in a 12 year old gas-guzzling mini-van!!! I know it sounds incredible, but it is true!

I'm going to scan in my gas receipts so you can see for yourselves and I will also detail exactly the top three things that I did to get such incredible results. Believe me, I'm as shocked as you are ... but as fantastic as it sounds, it is true!

Stay tuned for part 2!

The Hydrogen Gas Saver: Fact or Fiction

The Hydrogen Gas Saver: Fact or Fiction?

With the rising cost of fuel, people everywhere are looking for something to help them save on their costs at the pump. From fuel boosters to super magnets to the hydrogen gas saver, it almost seems like people are willing to try anything. In fact, you are probably reading this article right now because you are trying to find out if such a thing as the hydrogen gas saver really works, right? Well, let’s take a quick look at the science behind the idea and then we can go from there.

Free hydrogen gas saver information

The concept has been around for years actually. Producing HHO (hydrogen-hydrogen-oxygen) gas from an electrolysis method applied to water was first discovered by a guy named Brown. So that is why you will hear HHO referred to sometimes as Brown’s gas. It’s just another name for the gas that is produced when electrolysis is done correctly. The hydrogen gas saver is simply a method of creating this HHO gas as a fuel booster for your car. Now there are some folks out there claiming that they can run the car completely 100% on HHO ... that is something I would have to do some more research on.

However, as for the hydrogen gas saver actually helping your car get better gas mileage? It’s really not that hard to believe ... there are tons of people all over the world posting their findings on the Internet, and most of them aren’t looking to sell you anything. They are simply ‘bragging’ about what a great savings they are experiencing at the gas pump with their hydrogen gas savers in use. Just a cursory glance over many of these testimonials will give you reason to believe in this new concept of a water hybrid car. People are posting gains of anywhere from 25% to 250% from their original m.p.g. values.

Free hydrogen gas saver videos

That brings up another good point. Before you go installing a hydrogen gas saver on your car, you want to make sure that you find out how many miles you are getting to the gallon now. This will give you a good baseline to know whether or not the device is working properly (or any device, for that matter). While there are fancy gadgets out there that will give you an instant reading on your m.p.g. ratio, I prefer the old school methodology myself using those time honored tools called pencil and paper. Here’s how you do it. Fill up your tank and reset your trip odometer. If you don’t have a trip odometer, write down your regular odometer reading. Drive normally and don’t fill up until you are close to a quarter of a tank or less. The more driving you do, the more accurate your results will be. Next, when you fill up again, record the trip odometer reading or regular odometer reading (before you reset it!). Also, you will want to record how many gallons of gasoline it took to fill back up your vehicle. Then it’s simply a matter of dividing the number of miles driven by the number of gallons it took to refill the tank. This will give you a baseline m.p.g. so if you install a hydrogen gas saver you can really quantify your savings.

So what’s the bottom line on the hydrogen gas saver? From everything I’ve seen, it works. Some cars adapt better than others, and some cars seem to require add-on computer controls, etc. But to get a 50% or more increase in gas savings ... wouldn’t it be worth it? Now a word of caution about the hydrogen gas saver: you can find these things all over the Internet. However, HHO gas is highly flammable. My point being that you should get the best information available when researching and making your decision to build your own hydrogen gas saver. Don’t accept everything you come across as being ‘the real deal’ either. Just remember, as is often the case, you get what you pay for. Free information is out there, but when it comes to being safe, is free really the way you want to go?

Get a great set of plans to build your own hydrogen gas saver here:

The Water4Gas Book