NPR carried a story on
hypermilers (people who modify their driving habits to improve, sometimes dramatically, their fuel economy) on a segment last week. The program hosts even interviewed a man who claims to average 90 mpg on a routine basis. The incredibly impressive results in the program are only attainable with a hybrid, of course, but the interviewee mentioned that the tips work for any vehicle (he used the example of an SUV that averages 12 mpg today getting 18 mpg next week with the right preparation). Tricks for forcing a hybrid engine to "glide" during driving aside, the most basic advice is unsurprisingly common sense: frequent maintenance to take advantage of proper tire pressures and fresh oil, avoiding rapid acceleration and breaking, planning trips with the least number of stops and starts, etc.
The arrival of another pilgrimage over the weekend presented an opportunity to experiment with some of these ideas (spurred at least in part by a jump in gas prices to $3.25 the day before the departure, although to be honest my fuel economy is decent enough anyway that the experimentation was more out of curiosity, as most good experimentation is). I had an oil change and basic maintenance two days before the trip, and then I intentionally drove 60 mph (well below the 75-mph limit) the entire trip. The results:
- The most obvious was an additional two hours of driving.
The trip, one way, is about 380 miles, so what was normally an 11-hour round trip ended up being closer to 13.
- The trip was far more "relaxed." It's difficult to describe, but there was a certain Zen quality to it, perhaps spurred by an acceptance that the goal was something other than maximizing time (and aided by a subconscious inner smugness toward the other drivers, much like listening to a snippet of drama from a group of high schoolers and then inwardly chuckling at how inconsequential their concerns are in the grand scheme).
- Adding to the "relaxed" atmosphere was the fact that I didn't have to use my turn signals or stress about traffic. In fact, I didn't pass a single car and never had to leave my lane. (As a corollary, I imagine there were drivers cursing at the "slow idiot," but that had little immediate impact on me personally.)
- The most important result, however, was the jump in fuel economy. The segments from Omaha to Oshkosh and from Oshkosh back as far as North Platte averaged almost 41 mpg, a nearly 25% jump over my trip-standard 32 mpg. My number from North Platte back to Omaha came to 50.1 mpg, a number I'd be inclined to find dubious if I didn't have the gas receipts (that last leg was after dark, making the air conditioner unnecessary, and I did the final 60 miles at 55 mph, which may have been responsible for the extra boost).
By my rough estimations, given current gas prices, I traded two hours of driving for around $25. Many people would find that trade something less than worthwhile, but since I was in no hurry I'm happy to take the money and the reduced environmental impact. Perhaps a new tao will emerge from this, along the therapeutic lines of "Zen and the Art of Hypermiling," offering respite from road rage and aggressive driving by releaving the pressure of the destination.
Labels: amusement, environment, NPR, science
