Saving fuel with careful driving

The car we use for hypermiling - a 1300kg 1600cc turbo-diesel

Apologies for not blogging much on hypermiling for quite some time.
As I mentioned in my last post, I don't drive much, having  moved my workplace during an internal re-organisation in the company I work for.
This has left me with a one mile cycle to work, rather than a twenty-five mile (each way) drive.
Saving fuel with careful driving isn't the entire answer, but it is easy enough to do, and makes a real difference, at least until better transport solutions emerge in the future.

We still use our car for some journeys, particularly the longer ones.
Recently I made three long-ish journeys in our car, and it is these that I will share with you now.

My best gas mileage yet!

My best "hypermiling" trip yet!
A trip to the airport returns 76 mpg!
- that's about 63 mpg (US), 3.7 l/100km.
Anyone can achieve a great mileage over a short distance

• I could, for example, go to the top of a hill near here, reset the fuel computer, then drive down the hill and claim great gas mileage!!
• but I will not!

What really matters is what gas mileage you get for a "real journey", and for a round trip, so that headwind/tailwind uphill/downhill effects do not skew the result.

My automobile computer readout after the airport run 

The trip was far from optimum for hypermiling, but I did what I could.

Top tips for improving your gas mileage

These are all based on "official" tips from the US Department of Energy

Fuel consumption and speed - some solid data

It is easy to say that fuel usage increases with speed, and that wind drag is the major increasing factor.
But just how great is the effect?
Is it the same for all vehicles?
Does driving slower always save fuel?

Lets look at some hard data: page 29 in  Chapter 4 of Transportation Energy Data Book: Edition 30 - 2011, published by the The Center for Transportation Analysis at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory gives some figures for a variety of vehicles sold in the USA. Most of the vehicles reach their best economy at either 50 or 55 mph, with some of the physically larger cars better at lower speeds than that, and just one (the Toyota Celica - a reasonably aerodynamic sports coupe) being most efficient at 60 mph.

If that link is unavailable, then try here, which is a summary of the various data from the same source.
Just pick out the data list you think is the most relevant for you needs.
They all point to pretty much the same conclusions, whichever you pick.

Some important conclusions can be drawn, whatever type of automobile you drive, and whichever data source you choose:

Hypermiling - an introduction

Hypermiling.
You may have heard the term.
So just what is it?

"Hypermiling" has a couple of different meanings.

It can be either:

1. Driving to achieve the best possible fuel efficiency from a fuel powered vehicle,
   OR
2. Driving so as to exceed the "official" fuel mileage for the vehicle.

From a "green" perspective, the second meaning is the most practical.
We can't all afford to buy a new "super economy" motor vehicle every few years, so getting the most from what we already have is important.

Whatever motor vehicle you have, it will have a "official" fuel consumption. Although the test standards vary a little from country to country, the difference is not that specific. Remember, you are trying to beat the "official" figures for YOUR car in your country, not for other cars or other countries.