Anyone overcoming gas prices by hypermiling?

[homestead]

12 - 15 $ / gallon, yikes

'Squawk Box' Guest Warns of $12-15-a-Gallon Gas

 

[ERD50]

Got 60 miles a gallon with my diesel, manual transmission jetta.

12 - 15 $ / gallon, yikes

'Squawk Box' Guest Warns of $12-15-a-Gallon Gas

I'm not too worried about $15 gas. Before that, solar panels and electric cars make sense.

Maybe it was another 'gas prices!' thread, but the poster was putting down mini-vans. Heck, we just got 150mpg in ours (automatic, no high-polluting diesel) on a recent road trip. Drove somewhat conservatively (how else ), but nothing crazy. We probably would have done worse with a Prius.

Explanation: Six people plus luggage comfortably in the mini-van (room for seven plus luggage). Average mpg >25. So, >150 mpg/person. It would take two Priuses (Priusi?) to make the trip. If each Prius got 50mpg, that would equal 150mpg/person. But 2x the wear and tear, 2x the danger of an accident, etc.

That is why I'm against 'gas guzzler' taxes, and CAFE standards. It warps reality. The bottom line on conservation is how much gas we use, not the tools that we use.

-ERD50

 

[Bestwifeever]

I tried the hypermiling trick last night on the Interstate, following a semi for about ten miles. I was so intent on maintaining my safe interval that I missed my exit. Stupid! That took care of any gas-saving the drafting might have provided.

 

[TromboneAl]

...freewheeling down a hill get can hairy. Also, on a steep hill you likely would have to ride your brakes to stay anywhere near the speed limit. In any case, you are not saving much gas, as the engine is running on a closed throttle anyway.

I'm curious about this.

First, there's nothing dangerous about freewheeling, as long as you don't let your speed get too high, right?

Second, I've done some experimenting on a freeway hill near here. If I just leave the the car in fifth gear, I don't speed up. For example, if I'm going 60 MPH, I'm pretty much going 60 MPH at the bottom of the hill.

However, if I shift into neutral, I gain speed. I can be going 50 at the top of the hill, and I'll be going 70 at the bottom. Thus, I can go another half mile before my speed has returned to 55 MPH.

Seems like it might be worth a little to do this. Around here there aren't so many other cars, so changing speed like that isn't a safety issue.

 

[ERD50]

I'm curious about this.

First, there's nothing dangerous about freewheeling, as long as you don't let your speed get too high, right?

....

However, if I shift into neutral, I gain speed. ...

Yes, a little bit of a safety issue. If you suddenly had to accelerate to avoid someone, you need to take a fraction of a second to shift into the proper gear. Worse, in the excitement, it might not click that you were in neutral, so you might floor the accelerator and do nothing more than blow your engine.

I'm pretty sure that driving safety people frown on it for that reason. Yes, it is rare, but it has happened to me. About a year ago I was at a stop light and I glance in the rear-view mirror and see a car approaching me WAY too fast. I looked left-right, got on the horn and accelerated through the intersection. The horn and maybe my motion got the guy's attention - he hit the brakes but blew through the intersection before he could stop. It would have been a mess if I didn't get out of the way in time.

-ERD50

 

[barbarus]

We also ran (at least one) oxygen generator that hydrolized pure water (distilled from seawater).
Hint: the Navy still makes oxygen the old-fashioned way (by splitting oxygen & hydrogen) and propulsion still comes from splitting atoms.

I know what you guys did with the O2 nords. Added it to carbon.
What did you do with the hydrogen?
Not propulsion surely.
Little Hindenbergs to fly around in the submarine to have some fun?

 

[Gumby]

I know what you guys did with the O2 nords. Added it to carbon.
What did you do with the hydrogen?
Not propulsion surely.
Little Hindenbergs to fly around in the submarine to have some fun?

We discharged it overboard on my boat.

 

[Nords]

We discharged it overboard on my boat.

Yep, everyone did. Probably still does.

We used to get excited about the Soviets being able to track dissolved H2 in the water, along with dissolved CO2 and floating trash. That used to make life particularly nasty when you were [-]on station or "in the vicinity of" a reported datum[/-] conducting extended at-sea training evolutions in international waters...

Hey, Gumby, speaking of excitement, I read a short article in Scientific American the other day gushing about a newly-discovered chemical that absorbs CO2 from industrial smokestack discharges: monoethanolamine. Hopefully it's not hazardous!

 

[Gumby]

Yep, everyone did. Probably still does.

We used to get excited about the Soviets being able to track dissolved H2 in the water, along with dissolved CO2 and floating trash. That used to make life particularly nasty when you were [-]on station or "in the vicinity of" a reported datum[/-] conducting extended at-sea training evolutions in international waters...

Hey, Gumby, speaking of excitement, I read a short article in Scientific American the other day gushing about a newly-discovered chemical that absorbs CO2 from industrial smokestack discharges: monoethanolamine. Hopefully it's not hazardous!

What will they think of next?! I bet it smells like a spring morning too.



(For those who have not had the pleasure -- monoethanolamine , or MEA for short, has been used to scrub the CO2 from submarine atmospheres for at least the last 50 years. It smells to high heaven and has been reported to be carcinogenic)

 

[unclemick]

Well now pushing 50 yrs ago or a tad more - they had CO2 scrubbers called trees.

They would get these dumb, niave Boy Scouts(volunteered by adults) to plant trees for a day.

I only fell for 'that' con job once.

heh heh heh -