This is inspired by Calvin who was inspired by Matt...
The other day we were riding in their hybrid and Matt was showing Calvin how the gas millage is displayed. Since then Calvin has been driving "as if" he had a hybrid and staying under the speed limit.
We drove on a long car trip today and using this method saved some gas. Maybe if Calvin has time he can reply with the details of how much fuel we saved.
Anyway I plan to follow and pretend to have a hybrid every time I drive too. Watch out fast drivers, here I come!
6 comments:
It's so true how driving just a little faster or excellerating just a little quicker can affect your gas mileage. It's addicting to watch that little MPG indicator and seeing it go down when I drive normally, but with a few changes it goes up.
I spelt accelerating wrong! I hate when I do that :)
WOW! I didn't know that.
Isn't freeway driving though a better gas milage, I would think for longer trips though. I'm not a car person. And which is better - cruise control or no cruise control?
Freeway driving gets better gas mileage for non-hybrid cars (I think the most fuel efficient speed for non hybrids on the freeway is 55-60 mpg) but city driving is more fuel efficient for the hybrids (I believe because the battery gets recharged every tine you stop) please correct me if I am wrong hybrid owners.
This is a long one :)
Since Matt did a ton of research on hybrids before we bought it, I asked him on IM and he wrote, "Like any car, Hybrids get the best mileage at steady speeds and therefore better mileage on the freeway (assuming no traffic of course). The difference is minimal however, because hybrids are designed to re-capture as much of the energy lost in slowing down as possible. Since the electric moter can only assist on the highway, mileage is only slightly better (1-2%) on the freeway for a hybrid, compated to 10-20% better for a traditional gas car when compared to city driving. Optimal speed for gas mileage is about 30 MPH in todays hybrids. Even though 30 MPH is optimal, the hybrids ability to re-capture energy is not perfect with the stop and go of city driving means you are better off traveling at steady speeds even if they are highway speeds."
For the cruise control question, he wrote, "On flat ground it is better to the extent that it keeps you at a constant speed....in both types of cars. When going up hills it can be better to let the car slow a little as opposed to giving it extra gas just to maintain speed when you will just have to slow down coming down the other side. Everytime you hit the break pedal, you lose energy and therefore mileage. Google "hyper milers" for info on people squeezing MPG out of cars (hybrids and non-hybrids). A lot of there techniques are illegal (coasting in neutral etc.) but it is pretty amazing. people can get 40 MPG out of regular gas cars. Some people even claim > 60 MPG. I am sure some of these techniques could be used to improve gas mileage if more people followed them."
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