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I'm a carpenter by trade and my work van is outfitted accordingly. Outside I have a ladder rack with two extension ladders and a walkboard. Inside I have the standard professional collection of drills, saws, hand tools, fasteners, extension cords, etc. I estimate that the van has at least an extra 1,000 lbs on it at all times. Due to the nature of my job sites, virtually all of my driving is in town. And it shows! I get a solid 10 MPG.

Today, based on the success I've had with my personal vehicle, I'm going to attempt to hypermile the work van. I bought a new tire gauge that goes up to 80 psi and pumped up the tires. I topped off the tank, recorded the mileage and have driven since this morning with the same new habits I've developed for driving off the clock.

Wish me luck!

10 MPG. Ouch!
You can only got up from there, right?
But with all the factor stacked against you'll it'll be very interesting to hear your results.

Good luck.

Never underestimate the momentum-sustaining capability of a
half-ton of gear! Play it for all it's worth...
.
_H*

I'm a carpenter by trade and my work van is outfitted accordingly. Outside I have a ladder rack with two extension ladders and a walkboard. Inside I have the standard professional collection of drills, saws, hand tools, fasteners, extension cords, etc. I estimate that the van has at least an extra 1,000 lbs on it at all times. Due to the nature of my job sites, virtually all of my driving is in town. And it shows! I get a solid 10 MPG.

Today, based on the success I've had with my personal vehicle, I'm going to attempt to hypermile the work van. I bought a new tire gauge that goes up to 80 psi and pumped up the tires. I topped off the tank, recorded the mileage and have driven since this morning with the same new habits I've developed for driving off the clock.

Wish me luck!

Good luck with that! Remember, even a rise of one MPG is a huge increase in a vehicle such as your work van (10%!).

If you get a chance, check back there for anything you don't need (trust me there's always extra stuff in cars that can be tossed LOL). A pound not hauled around town everyday is a pound that didnt need gas to be expended to get it moving along with the rest of the vehicle.

I hooked my ScanGauge into my work van today. I had averaged 14 mpg this morning until I got a huge splinter. I let the van idle with the AC on because it was the only place cool I could sit down as I sweated bullets while digging in my finger with a razor blade.

I just came in for the day and I finished with a solid average of 13 mpg, or as mentioned earlier, a 30% improvement over my previous average.

Thats a dang nice improvement for your first time trying it...

Keep at it guy! Keep the faith and whatever you do is better than not trying to hypermile it. Post every tank and every trip so that we can all cheer you on.

I finally got down to a point where it seemed prudent to fill up. Results weren't great, but then again 14% better definitely isn't any worse! My goal is at least the minimum EPA right now. This last week has been a bad one though as I'm working on our own compound and trips are about 1/3 mile so it's basically all short stop and go and nowhere near enough time to get out of closed loop. We'll see what this tank brings!

Something else I just thought of: I have serious problems with my tires losing pressure. They're supposed to be at 80 psi but they leak down to around 20 psi over 3 or 4 days and then hold. It's awful. The van and the tires are basically still new so my guess would be valve stems. I would send it in for repair but the short story on that is that it's easier said than done. I'm 95% sure that if I sent it in, they would air the tires up and send it right back out. I may try it anyway, but I know how our garage works.

What kind of van is it?
Nice percentage increase there, keep it up (and up and UP!)

I filled up again today. This tank has been short trips on hot days where AC was a must. This tank also suffered through the tire inflation problems I was having. I got my average mileage once again but I intend to keep on trying. I'm setting a goal of 13 mpg.

Hi everyone, new to the forum here.

I am also a tradesman, Low-Voltage in my case. I drive a '99 Chevy Express 3500 4.5 days a week and average between 11 and 12 mpg. I previously drove a variety of compact cars and pickups and found myself making redundant trips nearly every day because I didn't have all of my tools and parts with me. Now that I am in the van, I can say that I have hardly ever gone to the jobsite and forgot something I needed, forcing me to make an extra 30 mi round trip during lunch. That being said, 11 MPG sucks. I try to drive slowly on the highway (55-60mph), and avoid unnecessary trips in the van, but I'm wondering what else you can suggest to increase FE. There is no chance of replacing the vehicle or reducing the weight (7,000lb approx), given the requirements of my job. However, I do own the company and I am always looking for ways to increasing the efficient of my business if a cost/benefit analysis can be demonstrated to be in my favor. Thanks!

D.Ball

Park it so you can start out in D (drive) when you leave in the morning (cheaper to turn and back it in when fully warmed up).

Then, given the heavy nature of your vehicle, you might think about putting it in neutral before starting so you gain the quick-shift ability into immediate forward motion (D) and into a subsequently speedier warmup-mode without any delay, using the gentler (but firm) FE-friendly acceleration technique while merging out on your route.

Gentle 'feathering of the gas' .... way prior to any stops, but also the usual attentiveness to timing the lights .... will prevent any unecessary engine or pedal (braking) decelerations at most points along the way.

for the tires, may i suggest putting a can of that fix-a-flat stuff in each tire and re-inflating it? dunno if it would work, but it may curtail some of the air loss.

You can hypermile just about anything. My brother "hypermiles" his 18-wheeler. He says he coasts A LOT! I don't see why you can't hypermile a van.

If you could swap to a diesel with nothing lower than 3:73 and 2wd that would help. I wish all contractors thought this way your 3 mpg increase is equal to me doing 9mpg good luck keep on trying.