See How Easily You Can Hypermile
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The term “hypermiling” refers to driving techniques drivers can use to increase fuel efficiency. If done right, hypermiling can essentially improve your gas mileage drastically! Without any extra cost, drastic modifications, or anything else, you can hypermile just by honing your driving skills for maximum fuel efficiency. Here are some easy ways to start hypermiling!
1) Keep the windows up on freeways, and only use AC when you need it. When driving around at freeway speeds, your open windows act as a parachute, slowing down the car. It would save more gas to use the air conditioning than opening up windows on the freeway. However when you’re only doing 25-35mph, turn off the AC and roll down the windows. The wind resistance of the open windows will not affect your car’s gas consumption as much as the air conditioning.
2) Don’t floor the gas going uphill. Going up hills makes your car’s engine work harder. Gas engines are least efficient when working hard, so it would make more sense to be light on the gas while going uphill. If you can coast up a hill with momentum alone or with only a small amount of gas, do it.
3) Use cruise control on freeways and highways. Changing speeds wastes gas - slowing down and re-accelerating creates periods of no load and extra load on the engine. Thus, if you are on a freeway or a highway, it makes more sense to use cruise control - which keeps your speed constant.
4) Listen to relaxing music. This calms you down and can help smooth out your driving. Blaring fast-tempo music can increase your heart rate and make you more susceptible to hard acceleration, speeding and other fuel-wasting habits.
5) Use two-wheel drive. If your car has a 2WD/4WD option, keep it in 2-wheel drive by default. Two-wheel drive is inherently more efficient than four-wheel drive, because powering four wheels creates more friction.
7) Drive Without Brakes. Don’t actually drive without brakes - just pretend you don’t have brakes on your car until you really need to use them. Whenever you use your brakes, you are wasting energy - you are basically turning the momentum of your car into waste heat. It takes gas to make your car go, so whenever you use your brakes, you are essentially wasting gas. Instead, plan ahead and use just enough gas to get you to the next stop light, so you don’t have to use your brakes too much.
8 ) Avoid Excessive Idling. Whenever you idle your engine, you are burning gas. Whenever you are sitting still, you are going 0 miles per hour. That means no matter how efficient your car’s engine is, as long as it’s on, you are getting 0 miles per gallon. If you can see yourself idling for around a minute or more, shut off your engine.
9) Log your gas mileage. Logging your gas mileage is very useful - you will be able to see what techniques work for you, and how much you are improving. When your fuel economy suddenly drops, you will be able to correct gas-wasting problems (like perhaps a broken part on your car), and save money. Logging your gas mileage isn’t hard - just set your trip meter each time you fill up, and divide the number of miles traveled by how many gallons of gas you used.
10) Get a Scan Gauge. The Scan Gauge, while $150, allows you to track many things in your car. The main thing is that it will give you an instantaneous gas mileage indicator. This allows you to figure out how to drive the most fuel efficiently - is your car more fuel efficient at 65 or 55 mph? Also, the Scan Gague can scan and reset most error codes when you get the “Check Engine” light - saving you a trip to the dealer, and the money associated with resetting the code.
Hopefully, by following some of these tips, you can be on your first few steps to becoming an expert hypermiler!
