Shaister Miester Do Da

Hypermiling for Better Gas Mileage. We seem to hear more and more about it lately.

(See also Hypermiling and Other Gas-Saving Secrets.)

Hypermiling is a system of methods and techniques which one can use to get better gas mileage and increase fuel efficiency, thus spending less money on gas. With the soaring gas prices, it is not surprising that many people have begun to study and practice the art, or the science, of hypermiling.

Recently a question has arisen for some. Is hypermiling safe?

Well, the answer to that really depends on how you apply hypermiling.

Anything, taken to extremes, can become dangerous. It is usually not the subject that makes something dangerous, but how the subject is applied.

Even the most mundane activities can be performed in very unsafe ways.

Lets take the example of crossing the a street as a pedestrian. This can be done in a safe way, and can be done in a dangerous way. Crossing when the light is red and when cars are bearing down on one could be considered dangerous. But, unfortunately, some people still seem to do this (as witnessed by the statistics).

Does this make the activity of walking across the street unsafe? No, of course not. Well, the same applies to hypermiling.

In fact, correct hypermiling techniques actually include safe driving practices. Lets take a look at some of the factors we are talking about here.

Correct hypermiling means that you stay within the speed limits on highways. This is due to the fact that most cars get their best gas mileage at around 55-60 Mph. In fact, at the current gas prices ($4.00 per gallon and up), every additional 5 Mph above this level adds as much as 30 cents per gallon to your gas bill. Staying within posted speed limits, therefore, is fuel efficient. This is a safe hypermiling technique.

Another safe driving practice that hypermilers advocate, especially around urban areas, is avoiding rapid acceleration and breaking. These practices waste fuel. We have all experienced what it’s like to ride in a car with someone who accelerates and breaks rapidly around town. At times, these people can be a menace to the roads. In fact, they make it unsafe for our kids to play near the streets. Rapid acceleration and breaking in our suburbs is not a safe driving practice.

More points could be brought up, but I think the above examples serve to illustrate.

There are also the aspects of hypermiling which involve the maintenance of one’s vehicle.

Tire pressure is one example. When applying hypermiling, one frequently checks his tire pressure to ensure that the tires are inflated correctly, according to the manufacturer’s recommendations. Not only does one get better gas mileage with correctly inflated tires, but having one’s tires inflated properly also increases control of the vehicle. Surely, this adds to safety on the road.

Another hypermiling practice is to remove unnecessary weight from one’s vehicle. Every 100 pounds of reduced weight reduces the gas bill by roughly two percent. In other words, don’t drive around with unnecessary stuff in your car. The reduced weight increases the braking capacity of your vehicle. So I am hard-put to figure out how this could be considered an “unsafe practice”.

Another important part of hypermiling is keeping ones vehicle in good working-order. That means changing the filters when needed, getting the regular check-ups done, and a host of other specific actions which are all geared toward keeping one’s vehicle in optimum condition, in order to get the maximum mileage per gallon. Anyone can tell you that a badly-running vehicle is a danger on the road.

To sum things up, hypermiling itself is a common-sense and absolutely safe activity.

It is only extremes that are unsafe. But I guess it’s the job of critics to look for extremes. After all, some critics will even claim that drinking water is unsafe (I have actually seen articles on this). And I am sure that if you drank five gallons of water in one shot you would not feel too well. But that doesn’t mean we all stop drinking water.

by Anna Stone

For more information you may also see Anna’s blog, What is Hypermiling? or her Hypermiling Squidoo Lens.

Filed under Automotive

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 6th, 2008 at 5:31 am and is filed under Automotive. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.