Hypermiling - "Green" Fad or New American Tradition?

Have you ever heard about hypermiling? It's one of the latest crazes that emerged from the recent gas crisis. Hypermiling enthusiasts pride themselves in achieving the highest possible mileage with a single tank of gas and attain mileage levels even the most optimistic car manufacturers would not even dare to dream about. Are you the conservative kind of driver yourself? Do you sometimes brag about what good mileage you get, and that it's impossible to do better? Believe me my friend, unless you belong to the hypermiler tribe yourself, you've only seen the tip of the iceberg in that area. So buckle up because you're in for a treat.

Your SUV-Driving Neighbor Might Be One of Them. No Kidding!

Most people might think that there are two extremes of the automobile-obsessed crowd. On one end of the spectrum, we have the Escalade-riding, Navigator-sporting SUV clique, completely oblivious to mileage and gas prices (either because they can pay or because they are too proud to conceive driving anything else). And on the other end, one might think we have the epitome of the gas-stingy population: the hypermilers refusing to drive anything else than an über-thrifty car such as the Toyota Prius or the Honda Insight. That is a terrible misconception. Hypermilers come in all colors, shapes, age and ethnicities; they practice their art on any vehicle they happened to own at the moment they got smitten with the high-mileage bug. They love a challenge and enjoy busting commonly-accepted clichés. As a result, you can find hypermilers getting the best out of their Acura MDX SUV or Chevrolet Impala V8, as well as hardcore followers of this discipline outdoing each other using small vehicles.

So How Good Are These Guys?

Hypermiling consists in a set of particular driving techniques as well as certain vehicle adjustments. Wayne Gerdes, who runs CleanMPG.com is apparently the American who first coined the term. He holds a number of hypermiling records of his own like getting over 70 mpg with a conventional 4-cylinder Toyota Corolla, 40 mpg out of his 2003 Ford Ranger pickup truck or venturing well beyond a 3-digit mileage with an Insight.

The results are so spectacular that a whole subculture emerged around the phenomenon along with its own jargon. Here are a couple of colorful examples: SHM means "Super Highway Mode", whereas SAHM stands for "Super Atkinson Highway Mode" (in reference to the well-known diet method, of course), DWB is an acronym for "Driving Without Breaks" and so on. It's not quite as popular as the underground car cultures, VIP style or drifting (you can catch a glimpse of this lifestyle in the movie, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift - along with the Hollywood polish). But there are similarities with these cliques; hypermilers can get very competitive and are already meeting all around the country to exchange techniques.

Once a hypermiler, always a hypermiler? It appears so. Many hybrid owners become obsessed about raising the mileage bar as high as they can once they start getting in the game. They keep track of their figures on spreadsheets after each refill and make sure to put down in writing the driving pattern that work for them. Even though they usually keep their vehicle stock, some adjoin tracking equipment (like gauges) to monitor their trips. Pat's Garage in San Francisco is an auto repair shop that has been cashing on this trend by specializing in converting any Prius into a "plug-in" hybrid. After this transformation, the car can be plugged into any power outlet to recharge the battery so it virtually always runs on the battery (and therefore uses even less gas). According to enthusiasts, it is only a matter of years before the whole American population becomes as analytical about the matter as they are. Beware; the hypermiling virus is already spawning!

Get a High Mileage. But Don't Die Tryin'

Even though the techniques are numerous, the general philosophy behind hypermiling could be summarized in one sentence: stay calm at the wheel and be aware of your surroundings. Most of the techniques followed by hypermilers are pretty simple and safe to put into practice (see the 12 commandments of hypermiling below). However, some of the techniques followed by hardcore hypermilers could sound almost obsessive to the novice. Some even admit using procedures that prove more controversial - if not downright dangerous.

Many hypermiling enthusiasts advocate avoiding rush hour so you don't have to sit in traffic or get stressed out during your commute. While driving during off hours certainly proves much more relaxing and can increase your mileage, it is impractical for most 9 to 5ers that are on a rigid schedule. Some insist that you should never use the reverse gear, even when pulling out of a parking spot, because going reverse is less economical than going forward. Once again this may be true, but the reality is most people park where they can, not where they want so they don't have to back out. Tricky, isn't it?

Some hypermiling advice is to be taken with a (big) grain of salt. Driving far below speed limits on the highway, pumping up your tire pressure far above the manufacturer's recommendation or tailgating trucks ("drafting", as hypermilers say) so you lower your car's wind resistance at freeway speed are obviously risky ideas.

Other extreme advice includes ignoring stop signs or red traffic lights because any loss of momentum when driving will make your mileage take a hit. Now that defies all road safety common sense. Other fanatics give details about coasting downhill with their car's engine turned off for as long as they can to save more gas. This is probably the most ill-advised hypermiling trick I have heard of so far. In most cars, turning off the engine will leave the driver without power brakes and steering, therefore considerably reducing the vehicle's control.

I could go farther on this matter... but it would make hypermiling sound rogue and (unfairly) give this fine art a bad name. By all means, never put yourself and others into jeopardy just to save a gallon of gas. Always put security first.

Another Simple Eco-Driving Technique: Carpooling

Hypermiling has an older sibling that you might already be familiar with: carpooling. Maybe you don't feel like changing your driving habits by hypermiling your way to work. In this case, give carpooling a try. If you have a 9 to 5 job and reliable coworkers, I'd even say you have no excuse not to practice carpooling.

In addition to saving gas and money, carpooling helps you take full control of your time during the workday because you have to work with the schedule to be on time for the people you are riding with. It also lightens the burden of commuting by turning it into a social moment. Before you know it your carpool buddies will become your good friends.

Hypermiling Gets Political - Your Duty as a Conscious and Responsible Consumer

Trying to make America's driving population aware of this state of mind and applying it at the scale of a whole country would be wonderful experiment. Not only since these environment-friendly techniques obviously could help save millions of gallons of gasoline each year, and therefore make our atmosphere that much more breathable; but because it could trigger a new kind of enthusiasm for positive frugality among the American consumers to offset the fact that Americans are today (by far) the most gas-hungry population in the world. Empowering people with this consciousness would help promote efficient transportation means and encourage car manufacturers not to settle for mediocrity in the area of gas mileage.

Even if you're only remotely interested in cars, you'll notice that in the last 15 years or so, manufacturers have done wonders focusing on active and passive security devices, making our vehicles less accident-prone and our chances of survival much higher if a crash does occur. But this in return made the vehicles we drive today considerably heavier than they were 10 to 15 years ago - in other words that much less fuel-efficient in spite of the improvements of fuel injection technology.

Take the popular 4-door Honda Civic sedan for example. In 1992, the DX trim of that car featured a 70 horsepower 1.5L 4-cylinder engine and only offered a driver-side airbag as a security device. Of course that kind of thriftiness on security equipment would be unacceptable today. But the car weighed less than 2,000 pounds and provided an astonishing above-40 mpg mileage. Compare this with the current DX trim of the Civic. The car now boasts a 140 horsepower 1.8L 4-cylinder engine and features standard security devices that high-end luxury cars hardly even had back in 1992: driver, passenger, side airbags, and ABS brakes on 4 wheels. Traction and stability controls are optional. All this extra electronics (circuits, wiring, memory and chips) beefed up the 2008 Civic to a whopping 2,600 pounds. As a result it now only provides around 30 mpg, a 25% decrease from the 1992 trim.

All this pampering technology is laudable and has proven efficient. But as you can see 15 years of progress in that area also made an economy car - namely the Honda Civic - much less thrifty and much more expensive to buy and own. Did middle class consumers take notice? If not, I'm sure their wallet did. It's worthwhile noting that in 1992 a new DX trim sold for $10,700 MRSP, whereas in 2008 the same trim sells for $15,000; a 29% increase. Will a basic Civic DX sell for over $20,000 MRSP in 2020?

Car manufacturers can brag about mpg all they want. They can say they are better than the competition and push the EPA numbers in their endless comparative ads. At the end of the day, it still seems to me they have not done enough. Fuel-efficiency has been considerably neglected in comparison with other domains of the automotive industry (like security or creative financing for leases). To paraphrase the old Toyota jingle, "I want my mpg". Yes, it's about time we actually got our mpg back. This means changing our driving habits today as consumers, and pushing for more stringent EPA legislation as voters tomorrow.

More Crunch To Munch On: The Twelve Commandments of Eco-Driving

Considering the spike in gas prices over the last few years, trying to make the most of a full tank should make sense to any reasonable middle class person that's feeling the crunch! No need to trade in your current vehicle for a Chevy Aveo or a Toyota Yaris; just try to follow these tips that we broke down into 12 simple commandments (more details in the E-Book, Hypermiling and Other Gas Saving Secrets). Start experimenting today; not only will you become more aware a driver, but you will also significantly lower your gas bill. We at Middle Class Crunch practice most of them daily and already experience the difference.  

• "First off, cool down" (Commandment I). Avoid aggressive driving. Because any animosity lingering in your mind will transmit to your foot, make it heavier and therefore decrease your mileage. Accelerate as smoothly as possible. Avoid any kind of competitive behavior with other drivers such as passing abruptly or zipping through traffic to be first in the lane. Try and listen to your gearbox to shift smoothly and optimize the engine regimen (don't hit the red zone and keep the RPM low). This might take some time to get used to, but you can significantly improve your mileage this way.

• "Unlearn The Fast And The Furious. This is only a movie" (Commandment II). This is like a corollary to the first rule of cooling down at the wheel. No need for jackrabbit starts when the light turns green. No need to brake or accelerate abruptly like a street racer would do. You won't impress anyone and you will quickly burn a full gallon in the process. Acceleration is the most fuel-consuming phenomenon, so go slowly and gradually.

• "Coasting works" (Commandment III). Maintain a constant pressure on the accelerator when you drive uphill or on regularly-leveled roads. Successively applying pressure on and off to maintain your speed is a terrible habit. Don't laugh - I know many people who drive that way. I call it the "binary" driving style: they do either 1 or 0 on the pedal, when you actually want to do 0.5 at all times! Lift your foot when you see slow traffic ahead or a red light. Why keep your speed and then brake at the last moment? Coast instead - chances are the light will turn green by the time you get to the intersection.

• "Observe, adapt and anticipate" (Commandment IV). Being surprised at the wheel costs an awful lot of gas. Sudden braking, collision-avoiding accelerations and swerving take a big toll on your mileage. Keep your eyes and ears open and maintain a security cushion around you so you are not too close to other vehicles. That will allow plenty of time to anticipate and act smoothly.

• "Drive beneath the speed limit" (Commandment V). The faster you drive - even if you keep it smooth - the higher the aerodynamic, road and drivetrain friction. Going over 65 mph on the freeway is not economical. Going grandpa-style (i.e. 55 mph or lower) is, but it might annoy the heck of other drivers, so do not do it unless you are by yourself and you know you won't be in the way of faster drivers. Still, I bet my grandma gets better mileage with her Lincoln Town Car V8 than you do with your little 4-banger Toyota Corolla! Old folks are natural hypermilers.

• "No junk in the trunk" (Commandment VI). How do you think you'd perform if I strapped you with a backpack full of rocks all day long? Too many people keep unbelievable amounts of (often useless) stuff in their car and therefore slash their gas mileage. If you don't use it, toss it (that includes the roof rack too - it increases air resistance). If the junk you've got lying around prevents you from seeing your floor mats, you've got a problem. If you have to scientifically unload and reorganize your trunk every time you need to carry a couple of grocery bags, you've definitely got a problem. Packrats beware!

• "Kill several birds with one stone" (Commandment VII). If you have to use your car to run errands, save gas by planning ahead and bundling all these mini-trips into a single big one. Go to the farthest place first; this will allow your engine to reach its optimum running temperature. It will remain hot after you park it and run your first errand. Then do the other errands successively on your way back home, so you optimize the distance. And quit being lazy: walk a little bit instead of driving if two places are close to one another! Real hypermilers do that.

• "Foreplay is overrated" (Commandment VIII). It's useless to idle the engine for 5 minutes to warm it up in the morning - unless you drive a Soviet-era Lada and live in Siberia. Most post 1990's cars do not need any warm up periods, so don't waste gas on that. Just turn the ignition and drive off. Why do you think manufacturers removed old-fashioned starter devices from cars?

• "Think before you turn the A/C on" (Commandment IX). Use the air conditioner sparingly, because it feeds off the engine power. In other words, when you blow it full throttle in the summer, it decreases significantly your mileage (and you can also feel a power lag in many underpowered production cars).

• "...but use it sometimes!" (Commandment X). If you drive over 60 mph in a hot summer day, you're better off rolling your windows up and turning the A/C on, rather than driving with no A/C with the windows down to stay cool. Why? Air friction increases significantly at high speed on the body of your car when your windows are down. You lose aero dynamism and this actually slows your car down! Your engine must work harder to make up for this drag.

• "Lose the Dubs, homie" (Commandment XI). Avoid aftermarket oversized rims and wider tires. Bigger rims are always heavier, and moving them will therefore need extra torque push from your engine. Likewise, wider tires might improve handling sensations but they also increase the ground contact surface and friction forces as a result. Stock wheels are usually built by sub-contractors (such as Germany's BBS or USA's Superior Industries) following the manufacturer's strictest design constraints, or by the manufacturer itself. They work best for the vehicle's optimum performance.

• "Make sure it runs like clockwork, captain" (Commandment XII). Maintaining your car properly and regularly with the usual oil change, tire rotation, adequate tire inflation, clean air filters and engine tune-ups goes a long way. Keep it all on schedule, budget it and stick to it. No need to go overboard and throw away thousands in useless modifications. Most hypermilers achieve their feats on well-maintained stock models!

If you want to go further you might want to check out these websites: CleanMPG.com, GreenHybrid.com, Rechargeit.org (a Google experiment) or this e-book: Hypermilingbook.com.