Sunday, July 25, 2010

Hypermiling

A few years ago, I heard about a technique for extending the fuel economy of your car called "hypermiling" I googled it. It involves cleaning out all uneeded heavy objects from your car (like the trunk). Less hard braking and hard accelerating, inflating your tires to 45 lbs.

 An interesting point made by the website: The car manufacturers recommend about 35 lbs, but the tire manufacturers recommend (in very fine unreadible letters on the sidewall) 45 lbs. The tire guys know the tire will last longer with 45, but the car guys know the car will have a softer ride at 35. Softer rides sell more cars. But 45 will add at least 10% to your mileage figure............





.....these tires have 80,000 miles on them. They will probably make 90,000 and the interesting thing is that your fuel economy goes up, the balder they get. The tire guys don't advertise the unreadible number too much, they want to sell more tires to you and to the car guys..........



....another trick is the K&N air filter, which breathes easier and boosts economy by .5 mpg...........




....have you ever wondered why all the old people in America drive Buick Centurys? This 3100 cc engine is some sort of magic and they all quietly seem to know that. Millions of greyhairs can't be wrong! Without modification, they will consistently get 30+mpg, which is a lot for a midsize car built like a tank........



....this hypermile car got 519.4 miles on this tank. As hard to believe as it is to read!......





....that calculates to...........



I drive 35,000 miles a year for my business. That saves a lot of money and reduces my disgraceful "carbon footprint" making me feel a little better, but not much.






By Uncle Hans













0 comments: