Hi ChenZhen:
___I received a reply this morning firm KC and replied in kind. Here is the back and forth …
*******************************************************
From: K.C. O'Dea [mailto:mndjkc@hotmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2008 9:59 AM
To:
waynegerdes@att.net
Subject: RE: Hypermiling ...
Wayne,
Thanks for shooting me an email on the show. Let me start first by saying that the information on Hypermiling techniques that I presented on the show was a combination of different news articles, a handful of website forums and even a few items that I have witnessed myself. Also keep in mind that although you and many of the innovators of the Hypermiling movement may not be proponents of incorrectly inflated tires (though you do make a point to “discuss” and not “recommend” the idea on your own site”) , drafting large trucks and coasting in neutral on freeways, many people are and write about it in the aforementioned articles and web forums. These are dangerous techniques to say the very least. Might I suggest policing the ranks of those who post in the online forums.
The point of the on-air discussion you heard was two-fold. First to point out the absurd and often annoying and or dangerous ways people are conserving gas. (an idea spawned as I followed a small mini scooter doing 30 MILES An HOUR under the posted speed limit on my way home the other day.) Annoying, in that it is the only road into my area and she has chosen to cause a traffic jam; and dangerous in that the road is curvy and contains many blind hills. She could have been killed by someone doing the speed limit of 50 MPH. The second goal was to share unique fuel saving ideas. An idea done many times as of late on talk radio.
It’s like I said at the end of the segment. Check out websites (like yours) for ideas on saving fuel in your daily travels, but take what you see there with a grain of salt, because while some of the ideas are good, some are downright dangerous.
I welcome any unique and safe fuel saving ideas that you have that I may have missed out on. They may make for an interesting upcoming topic depending on what you’ve got. Also, please feel free to send any specific examples of something I may have incorrectly relayed to my audience.
Thanks for your time and have a great rest of the weekend,
KC O’Dea.
PS: I replied under this other email address because I am having sending problems with the one you used to contact me. Please keep this in mind as you reply to this email.
*******************************************************
Hi KC:
Let us begin …
Tire pressures: MAX Sidewall is one of the safest pressures you can use. You receive better handling, better turn in, better tire longevity, less hydroplaning potential, more even tire wear and shorter baking distances in everything but snow. Those that run at the door placards are under inflated the next day and as their pressures continue to fall off with std. leakage, it leads to a dangerous situation. Here is just one link you should read let alone the 100,000 miles my Michelin MXV4 + tires that the Accord is currently shod with and still have 3/32 front and 4/32 rear with even wear all the way across vs. EVERY other Accord in the nation with tires that are shot by 60,000 miles.
http://www.officer.com/web/online/Editorial-and-Features/Driving-Under-Pressure/19$27281
I do not make this stuff up but real world testing and speaking to the tire engineers that actually design and manufacture the tires you drive on are who I speak to at Autoshow Press events around the country.
Overall WeightTaking car seats? I know thousands of hypermilers and have yet to see a car seat taken out other then one gentleman at a fuel economy challenge. Even if he removed the passenger seat, so what as nobody is sitting in it obviously?
½ filled gasoline tanks: I have heard of some members doing this as it saves ~ 40 #’s from being carried around. ~ 6 #’s/gal and an average 7 gallons of a 15 gallon tank. I do not but it would not matter either way. Simply driving into a gas station burns fuel needlessly while we are jockeying for position into and out of here in the Chicago area and most everywhere else so feel free to “fill er up”. Again what is the difference? Do you feel undue stress because you are below ½ a tank let alone the guy in front of you? You brought it up like it was a crazy idea when there is sound reasoning for it even if it doesn’t matter to me one way or the other?
Oil levels: When we fill, we fill the crankcase up to “BETWEEN the LEVEL MARKS”, not half of the total capacity. Less chance of foaming and you gain another 2 to 3 degrees in the crank case helping FE and warm up. Again, you were joking around about CEL/MIL’s on and flashing as well as the caller talking about a $9,000 engine repair to an Insight when you did not even know what was being discussed or what the reason for filling a crankcase up between the marks, not half filled.
Speed limits: Did you know that a speed limit is a maximum allowable speed per the law and not a suggestion? 55 and 65 mph limits are exactly that and I heard you say you are sometimes 5 mph over. If there is a minimum and a maximum, driving between is exactly what you should be doing, not 5 mph over, not 10 mph over and not 15 mph over. A sidebar. Hypermilers are NOT in the left hand lanes at 10 under the speed limit AND are in the right hand lanes at those speeds while on the Interstate. You were chastising the only drivers that were actually legal on the road and than adding they were holding you up because you left late or wanted to exceed the legal speed limits?
The best way to describe this is for you to answer this question. Do you enter into and drive around a WalMart or BassPro parking lot at 10 to 15 mph? Do you know there are men woman and children walking between cars, walking into the roadways, loading vehicles while standing in the roadway and even walking across your path? You are in a 3,000 pound + vehicle and there are woman and children with no protection at all coming out of blind corners yet you are traveling around them with a 10 to 15 mph differential? In the same breath while out on the highway, that same 10 to 15 mph differential is somehow dangerous when the one legal driver is in the far right lane and the guy speeding is passing by with the same 10 to 15 mph differential. When I take journalists out on Hypermiling clinics, I see the light bulb above their head go from dim to bright after I pose this question while we are both sitting in the Menard’s parking lot watching pedestrian’s running between cars, loading up vehicles and generally doing what we all do in mall and store parking lots.
Stopping distances: Do you know it takes an over the road truck driver over a football field to stop a truck from 70 vs. a little over half the distance from 50 mph? The same can be said of your own vehicle. When you add perception, reaction and the actual stopping distance after applying full force to the brake pedal of your car, you should be afraid to drive on the road form any higher speed. At 70 mph, you are traveling at 102 feet per second and have traveled over 22 feet further in a single second than would have if you were traveling at 55 mph. That single second is your perception and reaction time and you have not even turned the wheel to avoid or touched your brakes yet. Would you like to have those 22 feet back in an emergency? I can begin an avoidance maneuver with 22 feet to spare so as to miss a pedestrian, impediment, shredded truck tire remnant or sudden emergency brake from the vehicle ahead then you can simply because I am traveling at a legal speed limit. This does not take into consideration the actual braking distances a panic stop from 70 mph takes vs. 55 mph which again adds upwards to a third of a football field more time to come to a complete stop. I hope you find these numbers sobering enough to scare you straight
Time: You mentioned that you are sometimes leaving 2 to 3 minutes late and having to race to work, to the lake and possibly to the grocery store. Don’t do it! You have already set yourself up for failure when it comes to both safety and fuel economy in that scenario and please for everyone’s sake, simply do not do it.
Proper Lane Usage: On the Interstates, a hypermiler will be in what is known as a Ridge Ride with the right wheels next to (not on) the white fog line so as to be offset in the lane and much more visible from behind. This should be a std. practice for everyone know matter how fast they are traveling because it wakes those that are on their CEL’s, or distracted with children in the back or are simply locked into the mile long stare or stupor from behind. It works and you should consider it at your earliest convenience on any Interstate with traffic behind. As stated previously, a hypermiler is always going to be in the right hand lane unless in a stop and crawl (I know you have a few of those in Minneapolis at Rush) and than only the middle if it is flowing.
Nuances … On a 35 to 45 mph limited suburban type 4-lane roadway (2-lanes in either direction), I have an arsenal of tactics to remove the proctologist with the Ridge Ride being the first. If the A-Type speeder is still coming up, I can perform a reverse pass which allows him or her to go unimpeded by to my right and I immediately move back into the right when he or she passes. Third tactic is the E-Flasher. If the speeding driver from behind is still coming in hot and has yet to wake up, a quick tap of those flashers should bring he or she back into the real world. Fourth item is to floor it and get the hell out of Dodge.
Drafting: There are 4 types and the only thing I heard from you is the term “NASCAR”. Who in their right mind would promote let alone condone NASCAR like drafting? I will however say that you are a drafter, a tailgater, a NASCAR driver or whatever you want to call it anytime you are out on the Interstate and here is just one example …
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/...tailgating.jpg
This is Chicago in a 45 mph construction zone as I was headed to the World FE Championships 2-Friday nights ago. Most of the traffic was traveling between 50 and 60 mph in a bumper to bumper wave. Yes, 5-15 mph over the limit in a construction zone with workers nearby. There was only one car and one truck on the road in that picture that was both legal and safe. Care to guess which two they were? Following distances here in Chicago are rarely 2-seconds and I have seen the same in Minneapolis during my jaunts up there to Group Meets over the previous 6-months. I have seen the same in LA, San Francisco, NY, NY City, Seattle, Salt Lake City and in at least 30 states over the previous year whenever traffic is congested.
The best draft is what I call the “Traffic Side” where those that are over the limit are passing along your left and giving you a free low pressure area for as much as 15-seconds as they pass and either camp in the middle or left lane or as they come back into your lane in front of you. There are even more and none are NASCAR like!
FAS’ing: This is where you are in N, shut down the motor, coast to a lower speed, re-ignite the motor and reaccelerate. Do you know someone in a FAS can out accelerate you no matter what you are driving simply by dumping the clutch and being in the proper gear? Second, you do not lose you power brakes for quite some time and if you came into a situation where you had to jump on the brakes hard 4 or 5 times, you should have been in a deceleration Fuel cut anyway. Power steering… Do you know you can steer your vehicle with one finger at speeds over 25 mph without any power steering assist? At least I can in both the Ranger P/U and MDX? Many variable assist systems reduce or remove power steering assist at highway speeds because it is not needed. And as we always say, you must learn and practice the advanced techniques out on desolate roadways until they are second nature just as steeping on the accelerator pedal and brake are for most given that is about all they know how to do?
As to dangerous ways of conserving gas, feel free to spend a little time over at CleanMPG and speak about the subject at hand intelligibly vs. what was talked about on the podcast I listened in on last night. You will be come a more patient, safer and courteous driver even while using some of the more advanced techniques which are recommended only after they have become second nature on back country roads as explained above.
What does following a small mini scooter doing 30 MILES An HOUR under the posted speed limit have to do with hypermiling? Did this scooter driver have a sign on his or her back saying they were a hypermiler or where they doing something ridiculous like riding scooter on your road to begin with? You made a real leap and when you think about it, I am sure you will come around?
Finally, remember your intro about your local lakes being empty of boaters and fisherman? Our country is in one hell of a world of hurt because of fuel prices and our addiction to oil. There are thousands being killed because of this addiction and you can be part of the solution vs. the problem with a little common sense and a change in driving habits. Think back to “The Patriot” caller who was 100% right. He is helping you, me and the rest of us in this country save us from ourselves one gallon at a time all the while you were thinking about how to chastise him not 2 minutes after taking his call. Receiving 15 to 25 mpg from a P/U does not help the problem but simply aggravates it. Receiving as much as 60 mpg from one is at least a start and yes, you can if you learn how to do it properly.
Please feel free to contact me at your earliest convenience if you would like to go into detail with any of the above in far more detail as there is a book worth of discussion still left to go.
Good Luck
Wayne Gerdes
Owner/Admin - CleanMPG
Contact information…
*******************************************************
___Let us see where he would like to go from here. I might shoot him another offering that he take Sean up on a hypermiling Clinic given he discussed Sean in some of the segment as well.
___Good Luck
___Wayne
Linear Mode
