What do you think is the biggest problem every truck driver has?
Well, for us it’s definitely fuel consumption which is really emptying our wallets fast every time we turn the engine on.
Sure thing, we agreed to it the moment we decided not to buy a car instead (god forbid a Prius even!).
Still, we always try to maximize our fuel economy and get that miles per gallon rating up (MPG). In our experience, some tips for better MPG rating are easy to follow and you can use them in everyday commute thus saving considerable cash.
However, there are some people that take this problem extremely serious, occasionally risking their lives, just to lower consumption of gas in search for the best possible fuel economy.
Hypermiling – that’s how this daring quest is called.
What’s hypermiling?
From a perspective of a “regular” driver, Hypermiler is a person that could be compared to those folks from “Extreme Couponing” TV Shows. Similarly, how many of us look from time to time through newspapers to find some coupons worth clipping out and using sometime in the future, extreme couponeers turned whole thing into a full time job. Basically, if you haven’t watched the show, here’s the spoiler – they save, a lot.
Similarly to them, Hypermiler has no problems using extreme methods that are unusual and often risky just to conserve some fuel. The whole thing got my attention just because of that. You don’t see everyday someone put himself or herself in danger just to pinch pennies. But, as I found out, results are far more impressive.
While the main goal is to economize when prices of fuel are rising everyday, some hypermilers say that to them it is also very important to preserve the environment. They defend themselves with the fact that lower fuel consumption means also less smoke emissions, and therefore lower air pollution from their vehicles.
Hypermiling community
Even though hypermiling has long standing roots (some techniques are similar to gas rationing during World War II) it got really popular in recent decades especially with popularization of hybrid vehicles which enabled high MPG ratings.
Over the years, hypermiling community quickly mounted to really high population. So if you, on your road trips, notice that some drivers are behaving stranger than the normal amount of weird that can be seen on our highways, it’s probably a hypermiler that you are dealing with.
What’s even more interesting is that they turned the whole thing into annual competitions – Hybridfests. One of those is The Maximum Fuel Economy held in Elkhart, Indiana where one driver managed to accomplish amazing 213 miles per US gallon recently! These kind of competitions are held all over the US so we are pretty sure that there is one in your state or even in nearby area. It is certainly something worth seeing.
So how do they do it…
…How do hypermilers get a 213 MPG rating?
We already mentioned some easy techniques to improve fuel economy rating, and even though hypermilers follow these rules, these are only basic techinques and these drivers almost always have an extreme version of the same idea.
Now, while we recommend testing out some of the tips we named in our previous article, what we’ll write here can be dangerous and life threatening – please do not try it for yourself
Regular Maintenance
We’ll start with the easy ones first. Having vehicle running in great condition is the key factor so hypermilers check their vehicles regularly, some of them even obsessively and often. If you have a mechanic like we do, he will always try to name as many things he needs to get done on a truck as it is possible, all in order to get as much money as it is possible. You may neglect some of them, but there are no unimportant shortcomings of your vehicle as hypermilers claim. Most importantly, you have to check air filter and change oil (it is recommended to use low “weight” motor oil) punctually and it will effect your MPG rating. Among everything else it is very crucial to do balancing and aligning of your tires.
Park it the hypermiler way
Many drivers look for the highest place on parking to park their vehicle, then they slowly back up, placing their car or a truck nose outside. When they want to move out of the parking they exit by rolling forward in neutral gear without even turning the engine on. Of course, this is tricky to do when the parking is flat or full. If the parking is however, flat, there is another similar technique – “auto stop”. This way, when nearing parking spot, drivers can turn off their engine coasting vehicle to a stop. Here, however they have to be careful since when vehicle isn’t running, controlling it is more difficult. The craziest among hypermilers use this technique while driving down the hill, sometimes not even braking around the corners! No matter how good the driver is, this way of driving is life threatening.
Anticipating better their surroundings
We already noted that aggressive driving is using more fuel so that’s why hypermilers do everything “easy”. They always try to follow traffic and anticipate what is going to happen. If they spot a red traffic light from a mile away, they will adjust their speed so that they will have green when they are crossing the intersection. Stop signs they view as “Yield” signs slowing down to a crawl, but never stopping their vehicle completely. The important thing is to never touch the brakes.
On the other hand, hypermiling forbids drivers to turn their engines on when it’s windy outside. Even though wind can help them when it’s blowing from behind, in the most cases it is unpredictable and can actually hurt anyone trying to save more gas. This fact may be enough for some hypermilers to stay at home.
Overinflating tires
Some people overinflate their tires by 15-20 pounds, which puts less rubber on the road and significantly decrease rolling resistance. Since this could lead to uneven tire wear, harder maneuverability of the vehicle or worse, this method is really dangerous.
Luckily, the most of them do this only if they are going to drive under 50 miles per hour.
Getting the radiator warm
There is this technique where hypermilers wrap radiator with cardboard in order to keep it warm at all times. Cold engine means more fuel consumption and this way they are trying to improve MPG rating. This however can not be done in hot weather or for longer road trips because engine would surely overheat. In colder climates it is almost recommended.
Burn and coast
This method is also known as “pulse and glide” and it is somewhat similar to the coasting method already mentioned in this article. Simply, driver rapidly accelerate to a given point, after which he follows it with the coasting down to a low speed. When it reaches minimum speed he repeats the process. This technique isn’t easy to master, but it gives the best results. We expected that this method works better on hybrid vehicles, but in fact more gains in fuel economy are noticeable in non-hybrid vehicles.
Drafting
While driving behind other vehicle, especially heavy duty truck, hypermiler’s car or truck is “shielded” from headwind and wind resistance that makes the engine uses more fuel. Testing the effects of draging, many experts, including even Mythbusters determined that it is possible to save from 20% to 40% more fuel. Fuel consumption decreases based on the distance between the vehicle in front, but with it — danger also increases. In fact, the best results were measured at distances and the speed that were not only deadly but prohibited by law in the whole US. While gains might look attractive, again we must ask, do not attempt this.
If you haven’t figured out already…
Be careful!
We are sure that hypermiling looks entertaining and attractive to anyone interested to save some money in this economy, but it is also very serious. We don’t want you trying any of the methods that could endanger your life. While many techniques aren’t against the law, some of them are also irresponsible.