Feeling hyper: Mileage maniacs in the news
Posted on June 3rd, 2008 – 6:05 AMBy Roadguy
On Friday, the Strib ran this Washington Post story about Prius owners who challenge themselves (and each other) to get the highest possible gas mileage from their cars. With fuel prices the way they are, “hypermilers” have been making news again — a CBS story is here, an Associated Press story here, Minnesota Public radio here.
Although Roadguy’s personal vehicle is wayyyy too unfancy to show real-time fuel economy on the dashboard (or even have a tachometer), I still have recently found myself coasting to stoplights and monitoring my acceleration. I haven’t gone so far as to seek out parking spaces that allow me to roll out of them, but who knows — gas is only going to go up. If you’ve been trying any of these kinds of things to reduce how often you visit the pump, let us know in the comments below.
35 Responses to "Feeling hyper: Mileage maniacs in the news"
Over Memorial Day weekend I had a roadtrip of about 500 miles. Having been a notorious speed-demon in the past, I decided to go against the grain and see what would happen if I kept my SUV at or under 65 mph the entire drive.
Ended up with the best gas mileage I’ve ever had in that vehicle in the four years I’ve owned it. Downside was that I also spent approximately two additional hours in the vehicle for the trip.
Having read the story, the irony of the whole situation is that their fluxuating speeds (from pulse and glide), unsafe drafting, slow acceleration, positioning along side tractor trailers, and other such actions only make traffic worse - thereby causing backup and leading to more overall fuel consumption.
Another example of self-centered driving causing problems for others and the reality of unintended consequences.
BarryS - Figure out what your per hour wage was then. Maybe you saved yourself $20 (probably being generous). That’s a whole $10/hr. - less than I made as a bartender.
If you’re like me and already drive an efficient car, the savings tends to be less than minimum wage.
Barry S. If you lost ~ 2 hours driving at 65 mph for 500 miles, then you must usually drive ~ 87 mph
I understand the intent behind the “per hour wage” comment, Professor, but I don’t think it’s practical. It is a rare person who spends their “saved” commute time working extra hours.
Prof S is very a much a “time is money” type person. We’ve had enough discussions about it in past threads, I’m not inclined today to have the same trite off-topic conversation. You go right ahead and keep beating that dead horse though.
Nice cheap shot on the $10/hr comment, though.
Cal - actually I said at or under 65mph. I spent the majority of the drive on two-lane highways going 55 and also having to slow down to drive thru small towns on Hwy 12. Try your math at an avg of 70mph (past road trip experiences) and then again at an avg of 55mph.
As is usual, everyone’s missing the bigger picture. ProfS is concerned about his own little world, (HINT: It’s not all about YOU!) and ignores the fact that if everyone in this nation did the sort of conservation in their driving that BarryS did, our fuel situation in this country would improve quite a bit after a while. The ONLY way fuel prices will come down is for EVERYONE to use LESS gasoline in their daily travels. Me. I’m switching over to bus several times a week now. Yes, it takes more time, but I’m spending a lot less on gasoline, and I get to relax on the bus and read the paper, and arrive at work in a much better frame of mind. And since I’m not writing myself a paycheck, it doesn’t really matter to me.
Without taking things to an extreme, when I see a red light ahead, I coast rather than hit the brakes at the light (while being courteous to avoid blocking drivers behind me trying to get into the turn lanes). Since I started doing this my mileage has gone up significantly.
For the time is money argument, I lose nothing at all. Coasting to a red light gets me there just as fast as driving 50 then hitting the brakes.
My main point is plenty can be done to minimize wasting gas without undue sacrifice.
My car has one the real-time MPG calculator. It can show “instantaneous” MPG as well as “for the current trip”. It’s frustrating to leave it on the former for a while and keep the numbers in the high 20s and low 30s, then switch it to the latter and see that my trip is hanging around 20mpg. Acceleration is such a small part of driving, but weighs so much more heavily than cruising. Yargh.
As for Prof S’s comments…I usually find myself disagreeing with his points on this blog, but time is money for a whole lot of people. Think of all the people who depend on billable hours or face-to-face sales time or other how-much-can-I-squeeze-in-today work for a living? Real estate agents, all sorts of repair workers, salespeople, etc. all have time-sensitive professions. I’m not advocating crazy-ass driving to shave a minute here and there, but his is not entirely a self-centered argument.
Most people can get a mileage display in their car — the ScanGauge is probably the most popular product for doing it, and works on nearly all cars built since 1996. I think it’s a bit overpriced (I think it’s going for $170 these days), but it was cheaper for me than buying the next-higher trim level on my car which would have an integrated readout (~$2000 — sad, I know).
As for hypermiling techniques, I try them here and there every once in a while, but it tends to be too much trouble for the short distances I usually travel. My car has daytime running lights, but they conspicuously turn off when I turn off the engine, so no shutting it down while waiting at stoplights… I’ve also observed what others have when slowing more gradually when coming to a stoplight — people behind me are often trying to reach the left- or right-turn lanes. If they miss a left, they’ll probably be wasting more fuel than I’ll save by slowing gradually.
I’ve been trying lately to upshift a little earlier to have my engine run at lower rpms, and I’m trying to lay off the accelerator a bit more, but I’m not quite sure how well it’s working. My use of the accelerator tends to vary too much by my mood, so even if I start a tank with one frame of mind, I’ll be in a different one by the end (tends to happen when the car can go 500-600 miles between fillups, which translates to 3-5 weeks for me…)
I hate that my vehicle only has one of the OBD-II ports. I’ve already got a device plugged into it so I can get a discount on my insurance (about 15-20%) and all I have to do is upload my driving data to my insurance company twice a year. I wish scangauge had a passthru so I could have that and my insurance company’s device.
DaveG writes
“The ONLY way fuel prices will come down is for EVERYONE to use LESS gasoline in their daily travels.”
And, once gasoline prices come down, EVERYONE will use MORE gasoline in their daily lives, driving prices back UP.
Seems like a cool toy. Too bad my vehicle is pre-OBD-II or I would go out and buy one.
“Try your math at an avg of 70mph (past road trip experiences) and then again at an avg of 55mph.”
500/55 - 500/70 = 1.95 hours = approx 2 meaning that all is well with the thread’s original premise.
Snuffy - EVERYONE balances time and money. If you lived 5 miles from work, would you walk to work? Of course not. That’s because it would take all day to do it. So instead you drive - even though it costs more money than walking. Other people may take less pay for a job that has fewer hours or more vacation. You don’t comparative shop every purchase because it would take you hours to save pennies. This happens all of the time. You may internalize most of it, but it’s a consideration.
DaveG - Wrong. I’m thinking about my world AND everyone else’s world. I’m thinking about making decisions that are best for me and getting out of the way of everyone else. By blocking traffic or otherwise causing traffic problems with their techniques, the people in the linked story are ONLY thinking of themselves. They are imposing all sorts of costs on the rest of society so they can save a few pennies.
That’s my whole argument. When these people accelerate slowly or drive under the speed limit, they are deciding not only form themselves, but for me as well. They are changing their savings into my costs.
More importantly, my goal in life isn’t to get you cheaper fuel - it’s to maximize my value (whether time or money). That sometimes means trading additional fuel costs for faster times. It’s why I drive to some places instead of walking and fly instead of drive. Sure, maybe my curve is different, but we do the same.
Finally, my earlier point also demonstrates why their saving techniques actually end up costing more overall. If they block traffic and a traffic jam results, they maybe saved a dime, but they cost 100 other people a quarter. So, we’re all worse off because of their greedy actions.
Joel - Right on. People speed because they prefer the time saved over the extra pennies it costs.
Ehm.. Thanks, I guess, for hijacking my point. But no, one hypermiler is not going to cause others to use 250 times as much fuel.
I too used to drive pretty fast. I put a sign on the back of my car now saying “Coasting to Save Gas” to keep the maniacs off my tail.
Coasting to stop signs, slowing to 63 MPH on the freeway (55 with a small trailer), park so I don’t have to back out, not using brakes around corners, and not accelerating at stops has totally changed my style.
Actually, more enjoyable to drive now, and if you time your driving right, you will match the lights. And in the city it is ALL about driving with the lights. Any stopping or braking you do wastes gas.
What about sitting a left turn red arrows or no turn on red? Talk about a waste. As if we can’t decide for ourselves if it’s safe to turn.
If you really want to beat fuel prices,and help the economy, and get paid, become a company truck driver - commute maybe 4 days a month, or how often you want, and dont pay for diesel.
I pay maybe 50 bucks a month of gas (i own a car)
Where I work got a Honda Insight and one of the first Toyota Prius’ early on. I found the Toyota display distracting so I stuck to the Insight as often as I could and was proud when I got 58 mpg. I traded in my Saturn for an 08 Prius and love the thing. I secretly watch what the hubby is getting for mileage when he drives it and I try to beat that. Work had gotten 4 new Prius’ and I like to see what previous drivers have gotten and note what I get on each of my trips. (Today I got 50 mpg from work to Brownsville and back.) (I am not a “panty waist” nr am I a “lead foot” or “cowboy”.)
All I ask of the hypermilers is that they extend the same courtesy to me that I extend to them. I don’t care if they drive 50mph on the freeway or decide to draft semis (provided they are safe about it of course) just stay out of the left lane and allow me to make and exercise my own time vs. money calculation.
For proper analysis, Prof should have factored in the savings of not getting a $150 ticket for speeding, of not paying higher insurance because of such tickets, of not paying for injuries sustained from accidents, etc, rather than his simplistic conclusion that gas prices alone are the variable for which we maximize our “time value”.
1.) The cost of tickets is small, since the risk of any speeder getting caught is low. It is one of the factors considered - which is why I don’t drive 100mph.
2.) My insurance isn’t any higher than anybody else’s. In fact, because I haven’t had a ticket or accident, it’s probably lower than most.
3.) The marginal cost of injuries from speeding, less the savings due to decreased risk of accidents from being on the road less means that is also a negligible amount.
4.) I never said it was solely based on time value. Obviously all factors are generally considered (again, why I don’t drive 100 mph or, for example, 70 through residentail areas). Even with those in it - I [and, judging from typical driving we see - 80-90% of everyone else] think it’s more efficient to speed.
Obviously we can’t decide for ourselves when to turn because intersections with red arrows (protected only) are usually safer. That’s why they use them even though it’s less efficient than green arrows only (protected/permissive) or no arrows (permissive only). Highway engineering is about what (hopefully) works not what would work in an ideal world.
Minneapolis should certainly continue their process of getting rid of no-right-turn-on-red restrictions. It’s been mentioned before that many folks are looking at using more right turns to avoid lefts. But you have to be careful if you’re basing all of your changes on the car’s MPG display alone — If you have a choice of a twenty-mile route at 25 mpg and a thirty-mile route at 30 mpg, you should still take the shorter route to consume less fuel (0.8 gallons vs. 1 gallon).
Time is not money. It is time.
That said, there are many things that slow the anxious and ‘driven’ car driver down.
Those old ladies who don’t rocket out when the light turns green.
The tired guy who just worked two jobs in a row, and can barely make it home.
The damn bicyclist on the right.
Those hated delivery truck guys.
Those stupid buses.
That light rail track on Hiawatha.
The complete disaster of the light rail down the Washington Avenue Bridge.
Pedestrians.
Stop signs.
Peak oil.
Beater cars.
Cruisers.
In fact, most of the population, except for me.
Elydog - that’s odd you drive anywhere at all. I mean, if time isn’t money, then why are you wasting money driving? It obviously can’t be because it’s faster.
On number 3, Prof, you should have added “when you are in the hospital after a traffic accident you wont be able to drive anywhere which would put you at risk of getting into an accident which may put you in the hospital.” Holy mind****.
I drove a Prius on a long road trip recently. The owner referred to the real-time MPG indicator as “her computer game.” I loved playing it. I wish that the ScanGague was a cheaper product, this is a game everyone should be playing (keep your eyes on the road though)
Dave G:
“The ONLY way fuel prices will come down is for EVERYONE to use LESS gasoline in their daily travels.”
No, that is ONE way, and it may not work. If you reduce the demand, sellers may either lower the price to entice more sales or INCREASE cost to make up for slower sales.
If your goal was to lower fuel costs:
1) Reduce/remove the taxes on gas (they make up almost 4 times more of the price of a gallon of gas than the fuel company profits do)
2) Increase competition by removing/reducing restrictions
3) Increase the supply (no guarantee that this would lower the price, but if you do #2 and #3 someone is bound to open a station with a lower price if the cheaper supply is available)
Botski - the error in your argument is that you account for the entire cost of injuries. That’s wrong. You only count the excess injury sustained by moving from 55 to (e.g.) 70mph. That is a small amount, even counting the increased risk of an accident by going faster. You then must discount “savings” you have by spending less time on the road. That’s the net.
You may say “holy mind****,” but this is what you do in a full economic analysis. Now, I’m not saying that any of us actual multiplies it out. I’m simply saying that for most people, this is all a part of the calculation when deciding to drive faster.
The real point of the hi-milers is that people across the spectrum are driving differently.
The main reason we drive is not to save time, it is one way to get somewhere. That can take various amounts of time. How we choose to get there is #2. Americans as a whole drove less for the last several months, taking care of #1. Speeds have, from anecdotal evidence, also slowed on highways and in the city, addressing #2.
Capitalism teaches us that everything is a commodity - even the lowliest second. So when you fidget at your kid’s dull birthday party, you’re ‘losing money.’ When some bore addresses you on the street, or maybe a panhandler, you’re losing money replying. When you stop to ’smell the flowers’ as the saying goes - you’re losing ‘money.’
Even, perhaps, when you go on vacation, you’re losing valuable time to … do what? Or the line, ‘the journey is really the destination.’ Etc. Some people use car time to relax, listen to the radio, get some privacy, etc. Sometimes the car is more relaxing than their jobs or homelife.
So ‘time’ is fungible. It is not a commodity … except when you are at work. And it is really the labor you do during time that they are paying you for that is essential, even then. They do not pay you to just show up.
Time is not money. Ben Franklin was wrong. It is time.
I coast to red lights. Like one person said does it matter if I speed to the red light or coast? Usually when I coast I find that the light changes and I can easily accelerate past the other cars including the one’s that tried to pass me in the other lane only to wait behind a mountain of cars as I coast and save my brakes and gas consumption. I only go the speed limit 90% of the time or under. I coast down hills. I stay to the right of the lane. The water runs this way to keep the roads dry and you can save gas mileage by following this tip. I don’t brake ever on curves (maybe right before I go into the curb). There are a lot of things you can do. I really love the time is money people. You are so stuck in your ways you will never get it. Go racing by. Keep killing the environment and polluting with your gas guzzler. SUV’s you are Osama’s best friend. Does a SuV make you feel special? SUV=Stupid Ugly Vehicle
Time is money - and just like any other item, its value just goes down the more of it you have.
Again, if the main reason we drive is not to save time, then why don’t people walk? You literally can go anywhere a car goes by walking. If time were no object, we’d all walk all of the time. Or, to use another example, why do people bike instead of walk. Why do people who bike to work spend $500 on a bike, when they could walk there and save the money? Answer - because it saves time!!
Or, a third example. Say you’ve got a class reunion in Phoenix. Do you walk, bike, drive or fly? Fly of course. Walking is the cheapest, but would take months. Biking would be the next cheapest, woubt would take weeks. You could drive, but that would take days. Or you could simply spend the extra money, fly, and be there within hours.
The reason we take vacations is because at some point we have so little free time that it is more valuable to us than the marginal amount of money we may make by working more. Maybe I could work an additional 15 days per year and my company would increase my salary a little. But having that 15 days outweighs the salary gains.
This is my point though. If I’m driving from point A to point B and someone told me, “we’ll pay you $.50, but you have to sit in traffic an additional 10 minutes,” I’d say no. That’s also the concept behind the 394 pay lane. Face it - time is money.
Modern “lifestyle” influences & peer pressure have lead to generations of bad driving habits justified by the “everyone else is ___ rationale. I coast up to red lights instead of accelerating up to the last 30 feet and then hitting the brakes. I try to match my rate of speed to the changing traffic & traffic signals, not to the type-A’s trying to get somewhere 30 seconds sooner because they can’t plan their day well enough to be on time or ahead. I stay in the right hand lane except for passing or left turns. My gas milage is up, my blood pressure is down –compared to the Indy-500 dirvers and I’ve been driving this way since I learned at 16 in Drivers Ed. Have a nice day, see ya at the next stoplight. I’ll be the one in the red work truck smiling.
