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Hey all! Long time no talk.

I wanted to ask you guys if you had any advice for me..

I'm doing a local radio show / video on the techniques of hypermiling. Basically showing a guy from the station the "how to's" of hypermiling. I will show him the basics and some solid techniques that anyone can follow, but I am wondering if there are any suggestions any of y'all might have for me to do! I want it to be informative but also not boring - haha.

Thanks a lot for the help!

-HC

Hi Hyper Civic:

Can I ask what your lmpg is on your Civic is please?

TIA

Wayne

I'd highlight the basics:
- far ahead anticipation
- dwb, aided by the anticipation
- smart braking and light timing
- smart trip planning, including starting early so you don't need to rush
- tire pressure up to sidewall

No need to go too advanced or the audience will quickly tune out.

If you mention drafting at all, please do so as a warning against such unsafe driving behavior. It's no good for hypermiling. I tested it once and found the same benefit from slowing down 5 mph. That's much safer for multiple reasons as well as being legal vs illegal tailgating.

Wayne - I have to break my lmpg into two parts, the first being before I moved to the big, congested city (43) and after my move (36) - which may seem low, but with what I have to deal with on a day to day basis, I'm pretty proud of. Also, the latter is with little HW driving. Also, not every trip of mine is as efficient as it could be due to time constraints with my work.

Andrew - Thanks for the tips. I was going to actually speak about drafting and how it's not only not a requirement to hypermile, it's also renounced by hypermiling practitioners.

I'd highlight the basics:
- far ahead anticipation and buffering
- dwb, aided by the anticipation
- smart braking and light timing


I'd definitely want to start with the Free Money above. That's stuff people can do without any extra time. Plus it makes them safer and means less wear on tires, brakes and the engine.


- smart trip planning, including starting early so you don't need to rush


More Free Money: if you need to be somewhere and you're ready to go early, go and take it easy on the way.


- tire pressure up to sidewall


I'd always add a caveat on that one since it effects NVH and handling, but still say that the higher somebody can feels comfortable the better their mileage will be.

DWL is something that I think people can understand readily. That's not Free Money, unless of course you're already leaving early. :D

NICE-ON is something to mention later.

FAS would be something for the very end with a "read about it somewhere else (e.g. CleanMPG.com) :D

Buffer is good. I can't believe I forgot that one.

Try to give some examples, this is the only way people remember advices.

The car is the mean to move. Don't move to drive, drive to move. The important is to move, not the speed at which you move. Speed kills your money first, and with an accident your time travel, innocent people, your friends and family and least : you. Safety is more important than your time, so don't try to recover on the road the time you lost.

Leaving early is the more difficult technique I use... I never liked waking up soon :( but it does permit to avoid so much traffic that I do it.

Anticipation is the key to safety, courtesy and saving, so they have to work hard on that and never stop to try improving.
In France motorcycle are thanking you when you move to permit them to pass you. When a motorcycle is thanking me then I badly did things as he saw that I moved. If I correctly anticipate him then I would have moved when the motorcycle is 3 cars behind me and so doesn't look at me yet.
In the front of you, you know what the 3 cars are going to do before they realize they will have to do so. Per example you see a distant light becoming red then you put in neutral before the 3 cars in front of you see the red light.

Don't idle more than 10 seconds (was it in light timing ?)

Start the engine when you are ready to go. Don't idle the engine to warm it. Drive immediately, only drive smoothly first. In cold weather drive with gloves and a polar vest.

If you have them, then use :

your speed limiter (a special mode of some cruise control) or speed advertiser (got one on my gps), also good to avoid tickets. Did I talk about safety to you already ?
your instant fuel consumption display. You can turn it into a game : reset it each morning and try to beat your scores


Clean the car from wasted weight (golf clubs...) and wasted aero (roof rack...)

Do maintenance on due time, and more : fresh air filters, thinner oil (5w30 instead of 10w40 per ex), verify brakes don't drag, verify tires are aligned...

Show a little calculation about the saving (12.5gal tank @4$/gal you saved 10$each when having mpg up by 25%) and a investment into a Scangauge (16 tanks ie 8 months or fewer).
It's cheaper to keep its old car and apply ecodriving than to change for a brand new car without change its habits : is anybody here knows someone with better fuel economy than what we are doing with our old cars ? ;)
You can also reinvest in fresh air filters, thinner oil, brakes & tires verifications... but also wipers, LRR tires, tire pressure gauge, air compressor (if you have to pay for in your region)... Did I talk about safety to you already ?

Offer the car a pretty scarf, aka upper grill block, by cold weather : a piece of chloroplast (recycled from a boring political ad), some gorilla tape and a painting spray.

The most important, be proud to apply what you are told to do (ecodriving, recycling - for the piece of chloroplast ad) since so long but nobody is doing because they do prefer driving with their p***s (better say "with testosterone") than with their brain. Did I talk about safety to you already ?

Now daily commutes are relaxing moments, not stressing ones :) concentrating on driving permits to forget about other problems. So install comfortably behind the wheel, choose a calm music (don't set it loud) and have fun.

Sorry, certainly much more info than you needed ;) In a interactive radio show you can have all that noted on a piece of paper and check when you have talked about a topic, and prepare as much examples as possible.

Have fun,

Denis.

PS Did I talk about safety to you already ?