I have continued to monitor my gas mileage and have been consistently seeing around 30mpg without using some of the more extreme hypermiling measures. This has still left me a bit puzzled. I have two possible conclusions—one or both of which must be correct based on my results:
I have discontinued using some of my hypermiling techniques to test their effectiveness. I have been watching my tachometer closely, and, rather than using cruise control, I have been manually keeping the RPMs under 2000 at all times which usually results in an interstate cruising speed of 60mph. I have also been practicing engine-off-coasting. I am still driving conservatively, but I have resumed using my cruise control and started driving up to 70mph. I have also started shifting to neutral rather than turning the engine off for coasting. After one day of this, I have some surprising results.
What looked like a success may not be (or at least not so much as it seemed). I previously claimed a modest mileage gain of 3.5mpg over a measurement taken before I started hypermiling. In two more recent measurements, I calculated 27.5mpg and 28.9mpg. This is really much less than the gains I was hoping for as many people who are doing this (granted I’m sure they are much more skilled than I) are really achieving dramatic increases in fuel economy.
I am unfortunate enough to have a fairly substantial commute to work—28 miles one-way. I am going to have to find a way to seriously cut back with climbing gas prices. Don’t worry. This isn’t going to turn into a bitch session about gas prices. They are high and should probably be higher to pay for road maintenance, pollution cleanup, oil industry subsidies, and the like, but there’s no use in complaining. I want to do something about it. Read more »
Today I’ve been thinking about different ways to reduce my impact on the environment. I can’t put a finger on exactly what inspired me. There’s something in me which forces me to continually evaluate almost every minute aspect of my life for possible revision. I think it was the act of giving up TV which made me realize how easy it is to make these changes even though they seem like they will be unbearable until you are actually living the new way. Read more »
