Author Topic: Accidental Hypermiling  (Read 2745 times)

dmadill001

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Accidental Hypermiling
« on: March 04, 2020, 06:18:46 AM »
I drive an 03 Corolla, and I track my gas mileage per tank, just to know what I'm getting and to be able to think back on that tank's history and see what may have caused it to go up or down. It is usually around 32 mpg. This even helped me diagnose a problem once when it dropped to around 24 mpg for a couple weeks with no evident change in performance. Turns out a $20 O2 sensor had died. I swapped it out and got back up to my usual 32 mpg.

Recently we switched over to Progressive Insurance because they had the best rate at my 6 month price check. As part of that, they sent me a "Snapshot" device as seen in the "Don't mess with my discount" commercials. It beeps at me every time I have a "hard stop," which I quickly realized was a very broad definition by the device's standards. I was getting 2-3 beeps every day, even while trying my hardest to keep my braking to a gentle slowdown!

2 weeks later, I have learned the art of the slow brake (Three days beep free as of this morning), with several added benefits. First of all, my wife keeps complimenting me on how smooth my driving is. Secondly, my car is getting about 5 more mpg, bringing it up from 32 to ~37 mpg! I have to keep this snapshot device plugged in for 6 months, so I would imagine my driving habits will be fairly firmly changed for the better by the end of it.

Thanks Progressive, for helping my wallet, my safety, and my marriage.

happychineseboy

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Re: Accidental Hypermiling
« Reply #1 on: March 04, 2020, 06:57:15 AM »
I too have Progressive and I love the snapshot device. The beeping made me very aware of my last minute braking habits. I have had the dongle in my car for about 2.5 months now, I rarely ever hear beeping now. I wonder if I can get an A+ rating before my 6 months are up!

Car Jack

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Re: Accidental Hypermiling
« Reply #2 on: March 04, 2020, 07:05:26 AM »
Until you're drafting tractor trailers on the highway, you're not hypermiling.  You can do what's called "passive drafting" by driving next to tractor trailers rather than right behind them.  Much safer and you get lots of the benefit of the truck moving the air for you.

MilesTeg

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Re: Accidental Hypermiling
« Reply #3 on: March 04, 2020, 09:11:26 AM »
Until you're drafting tractor trailers on the highway, you're not hypermiling.  You can do what's called "passive drafting" by driving next to tractor trailers rather than right behind them.  Much safer and you get lots of the benefit of the truck moving the air for you.

Driving next to a tractor trailer is not very safe. Lots of blind spots where the driver won't see you and if you are pacing it they might never know you are there.

Car Jack

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Re: Accidental Hypermiling
« Reply #4 on: March 04, 2020, 11:35:57 AM »
Next to them they'll see you.  If you can see the driver in his mirror, he can indeed see you.  Now, if you go all NASCAR and draft a foot off the trailer bumper.....then you're on your own.  :D

ericrugiero

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Re: Accidental Hypermiling
« Reply #5 on: March 05, 2020, 08:54:08 AM »
Until you're drafting tractor trailers on the highway, you're not hypermiling.  You can do what's called "passive drafting" by driving next to tractor trailers rather than right behind them.  Much safer and you get lots of the benefit of the truck moving the air for you.

Driving next to a tractor trailer is not very safe. Lots of blind spots where the driver won't see you and if you are pacing it they might never know you are there.

That has the added "benefit" of causing road rage in all the people stuck behind you.  You can save gas while they waste gas by driving more aggressively because they are mad at you. 

Just make sure you save enough gas to pay for the ticket you may get for camping out in the left lane.  Many states are cracking down on that. 

In all seriousness, you still get some benefit from drafting behind a tractor trailer even if you stay back far enough to be safe.  This is much better than driving beside them because you aren't blocking traffic and you are safer from a blow out or them changing lanes into you.  I actively try to avoid driving beside semi trucks for these reasons.  They taught it at a motorcycle safety class I took and I've carried it over to driving cars. 

MilesTeg

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Re: Accidental Hypermiling
« Reply #6 on: March 05, 2020, 10:11:17 AM »
You can save gas while they waste gas

Sadly a lot of 'hypermiling' behaviors have that effect -- the hypermiler saving a tiny amount of fuel at the expense of a much larger expenditure from all the other traffic being disrupted. Merging onto a highway well below the speed of traffic (also extremely dangerous), stopping short of an intersection in a turn lane, etc.

Not to mention all the counter productive stuff like turning off your vehicle at a stoplight or over-inflating tires.

HenryDavid

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Re: Accidental Hypermiling
« Reply #7 on: April 13, 2020, 09:17:52 AM »
Back when I used to draft big trucks on a bicycle (dumb, eh?) a furious trucker once explained this to me:
if a truck has recently done a long downhill, the brakes are stinkin'  hot. There's a risk of exploding tires. You've seen evidence on the roadside maybe. There are other ways this can happen: in certain circumstances, and depending on the state of the truck's maintenance, tires that blow up or throw tread are a real danger.
This happened to me once while driving a car--a big heavy chunk of truck tread flew right into the grill. Bam. Scary but just an insurance claim.
Anyhow, worth keeping in mind. Truckers like to see you maintain safe distances.

Gone Fishing

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Re: Accidental Hypermiling
« Reply #8 on: April 17, 2020, 07:57:08 PM »
The (original) clutch in my '08 Corolla with 215k miles is a little tired and is starting to slip, so I have been babying it.  I've picked up 2-3 mpg or so!