Hypermiling - A Viable Way To Save Gas?

22nd July 2008

Hypermiling - A Viable Way To Save Gas?

posted in Automotive News and Views, DIY Tutorials |

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After our somewhat dissapointing test of the Water 4 Gas product we went on a quest to find more information on what can be done to save gas in these times of record-high prices. There are more Water 4 Gas tests to come regarding non-fuel injected engines but I’m certainly not going to hold out any hope of earth-shattering results.

Obviously leaving the car in the garage more often or replacing it with a more fuel efficient model (or buying a Horse!) will help alleviate the strain on our budget’s but for the majority of us this simply isn’t practical or sustainable. Particularly the horse idea.

There is a lot of talk around the forums and gas-saving websites about ‘Hypermiling’. Hypermiling is a phrase coined by the ‘inventor’ Wayne Gerdes and is basically a term that refers to a number of driving techniques used to decrease your vehicles fuel consumption. Some of the figures quoted by users of these techniques are very impressive and given that these comments can be found on public forums not just on cheesy sales type pages makes one think there might be some truth to these claims.

I personally don’t do enough driving in a week, or a month for that matter to give an accurate assesment of these techniques (I’m lucky to cover 20 kilometres in a normal week) and I think to try and change Belinda’s driving habits would require a mamoth effort on my behalf, after all she does know everything there is to know about driving a motor car, just ask her! Oh and I shouldn’t forget a little fact that she uses on a regular basis to assert her driving prowess over myself - she has never had a ticket of any kind whereas unfortunately my driving history is a little more ‘colourful’.

What we have managed to do though is secure a copy of the “The Ultimate Hypermiling Guide” that you can download for free and try for yourself. This guide has plenty of practical tips and tricks for getting the most out of each fill-up and comes complete with a ‘Mileage Log’ that you can print out and keep in your vehicle. Just enter your name and email address in the form in the left hand sidebar and the guide is yours.

We would love to hear any feedback that you have about the guide and of course if these Hypermiling techniques were useful in keeping your fuel costs under control and by how much.

Craig

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008 at 12:58 am and is filed under Automotive News and Views, DIY Tutorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On July 23rd, 2008, dean lewis said:

Good on you for giving it a go. Suspected it wasnt as easy as they said. Also from other reading on the net. Still 9% is nothing to sniff at. Seems to me the easiest way around it is a wide band oxy sensor but that admittedly is extra hassle and expense. Great effort anyway. Cheers

2 On July 23rd, 2008, craig said:

Thanks Dean! If it was simply a test done for myself I would invest the time in fitting a variable resistor or as you say a wide range O2 sensor however the point was to see if the average motorist would be able to manufacture and install one of these systems, which in this case I think is a bit over the head of the majority and certainly not as simple as what they make it out to be.

In my spare time (ha ha) I am devising a way to measure the resulting air/fuel ratio, taking in to account the added oxygen from the HHO system, however I am yet to come across a reliable way of doing this and the extra effort is in my opinion not going to be out-weighed by the gains. The ‘unknowns’ are what worries me the most particularly when put in the hands of non-mechanically minded people.

Anyway that’s my 2 cents worth (again!) and thank you for taking the time to leave your comment.

3 On July 27th, 2008, PINTAOZHANG said:

Good blog.I like your blog

4 On August 16th, 2008, Rob D. said:

I started trying to hypermile a couple of weeks ago after reading an article about it in the paper. I haven’t done any research on it to date and have just been going off the feedback I get from the L/100km readout on the car. I drive a VY Commodore wagon - not the most economical of beasts - hence the desire to improve the milage a bit.

Before I started changing my driving habits I was averaging about 12.3L/100km driving around where I live. Since changing, I have been getting about 11.4L/100km, which is about a 7% improvement in fuel efficiency. I have just now looked up a bunch of hypermiling sites and found a few more techniques that I plan to employ. I’ll keep you posted as to how I go. I’m trying to get under 11L/100km.

The final thing to say is that for me, hypermiling is addictive. I am really enjoying driving. It’s heaps of fun cruising around trying to get that number to edge just that little bit lower. It’s also changed me from being a perenially late person to a punctual one, as nothing blows out the milage like driving fast when you’re running late.

5 On August 22nd, 2008, Jewel Topsfield said:

Dear Rob D and others,
My name is Jewel Topsfield, I am a journalist at The Age newspaper in Melbourne and am doing an article on hypermiling. If anyone has tried it I would be very grateful if they could contact me on 03 9601 2059.