Hypermiling

Hypermiling: A How to Guide for Getting the Most out of Your Car

Most people assume there really isn’t much they can do, so they waste their money by selling their old car and buying a new, more efficient one. Trouble is, we are still in a recession and most people don’t have that kind of liquidity at the moment. The solution is very easy: Hypermile. 

The idea behind hypermiling is simple: Go as far as possible on a single tank of gas while getting to your destinations in roughly the same time frame as before. Many folks think you have to have some new-age hybrid to successfully hypermile, but they’re wrong. Anyone can do it with any vehicle out there. The key is to not waste energy.

Fuel is basically stored potential energy that we use to power the engine, which in turn moves our car. When we push on the gas pedal, we are using that energy to move forward. Conversely, when we hit the brakes we are taking that forward momentum and transforming that energy into the form of heat, which is lost, ultimately, to the outside air. The goal of hypermiling, therefore, is to reduce the amount of energy lost by braking. In my car, the one described above, I can increase my average city mpg from 21-26+ simply by following three steps: 2 easy and 1 difficult. read more

part 2