Save Gas by Driving Less
With Spring well on its way, for some at least, now is the time to save big on gas expenses by simply driving less. A bike ride to rent a movie or pick up a pack of cigarettes not only saves on gas but keeps you feeling better, both physically and mentally.
Enjoy the weather and avoid short trips in your car. Now that there’s no more freezing and snowy conditions you don’t have an excuse to wait for the bus either, a bus pass usually runs about $30 a month - how does that compare to your monthly fuel bill?
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Slow it Down and Stay With the Pack
If you are doing some interstate driving then you can easily get a great boost to your gas mileage with a simple driving technique. First of all, slow it down. Anything above 60-65 MPH and you are going to get way worse gas mileage. The next thing that you want to do is find a pack and stick with them. They help to break the air for you and reduce resistance on your car, this also helps with increased gas mileage. Finding a few cars driving the speed limit and staying behind them will help you get better gas mileage on your next interstate voyage.
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Homemade Hydrogen Motorcycle
I found this the other day and thought I’d share it. Hydrogen technology is probably the easiest way to save cash on gas (because you’re not using it). You can even do a partial hydrogen conversion to your car, the DIY plans can be found here.
Very cool concept bike from a couple of creative students. Be sure to follow the link to see more pictures and video. — Ed.
Innovation isn’t always pretty, as two Pennsylvania college kids have shown with a homemade hydrogen-fuel-cell motorcycle that is ugly and slow but still pretty cool.
Alex Bell and Andres Pacheco, a pair of engineering majors at Swarthmore College, told us they spent two years and about $10,000 cobbling the Frankenbike together for a class project examining the viability of hydrogen-powered… [Read More]
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Pulse and Glide, What is it?
Pulse and Glide. An old driving technique popularized most notably by some drivers of the Toyota Prius (but adaptable to nearly any vehicle). It’s a repeated regimen of accelerating to an upper target speed under relatively high engine loads, then coasting down with the engine shut off to a lower target speed. The average speed of a Pulse & Glide pattern is often significantly more fuel efficient than cruising at the same constant speed.
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Drive Without Brakes Whenever Possible
Minimize use of the brake pedal. Each time you press it, you’re effectively converting gasoline into brake dust and heat.
Driving as if you have no brakes will cause you to do two things: 1) reduces ‘excessive’ acceleration, and, 2) extends the amount of time you spend coasting down to stops and turns.
Obviously you have to balance use of this technique against traffic conditions so as not to adversely affect other drivers.
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How to Brake for Fuel Efficiency
A car consumes most gas as it accelerates. It’s a simply law of physics (force equals mass times acceleration). A moving car doesn’t require much gasoline to keep moving (due to the inherent inertia). In real life this means, in order to improve your mileage you need to keep the ride smooth. Let me give you some examples.
About 30% of the drivers I see in somewhat heavy traffic apparently cannot control their speed with the accelerator pad alone. Instead I see those guys speed up and slam on the brakes all the time. Obviously, that makes the guy following too close behind very nervous and he too needs to brake and accelerate constantly. In really heavy (but still moving) traffic about 90% of the cars do this. It is relatively easy to hold a speed in a long line of cars without stepping on the brake. Just keep a little bit more distance and try to practice this. If the traffic moves along, you rarely need to brake, unless everything slows down. If you pay attention to the cars ahead of you (not just the one right in front of your nose, but the other cars ahead of that one), you can anticipate when things will slow down and you can ease off the gas. This means you won’t lose all that power to friction (on the brakes) and you can keep your speed without having to accelerate. In heavy traffic this is the most efficient way to save gas and can easily get you 10% - 20% better gas mileage.
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Some Great General Gas Saving Tips
Install pressure regulator valve (sold in auto parts stores)… Use graphite motor oil… Beware of oil additives, regardless of advertising claims… Add Marvel Mystery Oil into gas fill-ups… Investigate fuel/water injection methods and products… combine short errands into one trip… Use special gas additives to prevent winter freezing of gas lines… convert your V8 engine over to a V4 - no special kits needed!!!
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Ideal Rate of Acceleration
If you are trying to figure out just how to accelerate in the most fuel efficient way then you need to read this article for the ideal rate of acceleration:
http://www.crxmpg.com/acceleration-and-fuel-economy-tested/
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Hypermiling on CNN
If you are just starting out with hypermiling I thought this story may be interesting to you. This is a CNN bit on a hypermiler, showing off some techniques. Hypermiling is beginning to be very mainstream, what are you waiting for?
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2008/06/03/obrien.hypermiling.cnn
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Debunking a Hypermiling Myth
There is a gas saving myth out there about idling your car and gas saved. Many people report that starting your car uses as much gas as 1-2 minutes of idling. This is, however, not the truth. Most vehicles, especially cars and light trucks, use very little gas to start as compared to idling. Because of this you should turn your vehicle off at prolonged stops rather than letting it idle for a couple of minutes, you’ll find a savings in gasoline.
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