Re: Hypermiling conditioning
 

The idea behind hypermiling is constantly pushing the limits of energy efficiency. If you think it is more or less just slow down and drive less aggressively, they are wrong. bitter hypermilers employ various techniques and measures to carry out dangerous or illegal in their quest for ultimate energy savings.

Re: Hypermiling conditioning
 

Happy hypermilers generally limit themselves to safe practices.

Re: Hypermiling conditioning
 

Somebody must have skipped breakfast huh Mr. crankypants?:)
I do agree on the highway speed thing though, I'll put the cruise on 70 here (flat FL) and I'll have people blow by me. Sixty on any major highway with a seventy limit can be dangerous.
Then again I've been going about ninety plus on an open stretch of I-75 and had an Audi R8 blast by at what I would guess to be one-fifty or so! I might have caught him if not for the darn rev-limiter in the Mazda.
Not!:(

Jim

Re: Hypermiling conditioning
 

@Kristinthomas21 - hypermiling does not automatically involve anything illegal. Here at GasSavers we do NOT encourage ANYTHING illegal or dangerous.

We do encourage better driving techniques, slowing down, and modifications to one's vehicle, including but not limited to fluid, lubrication, aerodynamics, and mechanical changes to help.

Most changes help monetarily as well, some do not. I don't know why anyone would want to be a bitter hypermiler, but I personally am a very happy hypermiler. I drive a Honda CRX and consistently get over 50% better mileage than the EPA estimates for the vehicle without doing a single thing that is illegal.

In nearly all freeway situations it is illegal to go lower than 20 miles per hour under the posted speed limit. In a few locations, notably Virginia, it's illegal to put your vehicle into neutral to coast, or turn off the engine of your vehicle while driving.

GasSavers' goal is to educate and help people achieve better fuel economy and to use less gas, with added goals of getting off foreign oil dependency.

Re: Hypermiling conditioning
 

I believe that law is quite common, and is usually limited to downhill...nothing about level land or uphill (not that I do much uphill coasting).

As for minimum speeds...legal or not, 19mph below the speed limit on freeways around here is quite dangerous. All I'm willing to risk is 5mph below the limit, and only at the bottom of a P&G cycle. Perhaps speed limits are more generous or drivers are more obedient elsewhere.

Re: Hypermiling conditioning
 

Watching traffic closely, and coasting ( I have a stick-shift) as much as possible helps. It does sometimes piss off the car behind you, when he is in a hurry to get to the red light. The real idea is drive to minimize brake usage. The laws here about driving slow say something about impeding traffic, but give no hard numbers. So I do this less on single lane roads. I get away with -5 here no problems, even during rush hour. Our max here in northwest Ohio is 65.

Re: Hypermiling conditioning
 

Well said! Every time you brake, you discard energy that you already spent fuel to make; and then you'll need to spend fuel making that energy again.

Re: Hypermiling conditioning
 

memorize traffic signal durations and traffic patterns. time of day dictates what route i take as well.