Increase Gas Mileage
Tips & Tactics

What is Hypermiling?

Hypermiling sounds like something odd – in fact, it doesn’t even sound like something that would be associated with cars, but it is. Hypermiling is a way of driving that maximizes your fuel economy. If you practice any of these hypermiling techniques, you are a hypermiler.

Basically, these techniques are ways of getting more money out of each and every drop of gas you put into your car. It doesn’t matter what type of car you have – you can practice hypermiling in a large SUV, a truck, a small car or even a hybrid. Some minor hypermiling driving techniques are fairly safe, legal, and can be done by making just a few adjustments to the way you drive. On the other hand, other techniques – especially the ones that save more fuel – are dangerous, and some are even illegal.

Some hypermiling techniques are actually very common and are a part of every good driver’s style of driving. These include doing things like remaining focused on the road and anticipating when you need to slow down, brake or accelerate. By minimizing the number of times you brake hard or accelerate rapidly, you can save on gas and also on the wear and tear your brake pads will endure. These techniques can also help you avoid accidents, since you’ll be watching the flow of traffic.

Another common hypermiling technique is planning out your routes to avoid heavy traffic and areas under construction that will slow you down. By determining a route that is the shortest distance and involves the fewest number of stops, you can save on both fuel and on time. While this used to take a bit of advance planning, today, many electronic navigation systems can be set to figure this route automatically. They can even be programmed with the latest construction information and automatically plan to avoid trouble spots.

If you plan on making use of some of these and other, more advanced hypermiling techniques, you’ll probably come across a number of different terms and acronyms. Just like any jargon, these acronyms can be confusing at first. If you see FE, that stands for fuel economy, and is one of the most common terms used in hypermiling.

Others are somewhat more confusing. P&G stands for “Pulse and Glide,” which is the term for accelerating up to a specific speed and then coasting until your acceleration reaches a minimum point. This is one of the more advanced hypermiling techniques – those who really want to save on fuel will even turn their engine off when they reach their maximum speed. Of course, this is highly dangerous, since it makes it impossible to quickly accelerate at a moment’s notice without turning the engine back on.

When fuel prices were at their peak in the United States in the late 2000s, hypermiling became quite popular, but it also gained its fair share of opponents. Many claim it’s very dangerous, since some techniques – like the one mentioned above – make it impossible for drivers to truly be safe. In August of 2008, in fact, the Hypermiling Safety Foundation was formed to help educate drivers on which hypermiling techniques were safe to use and on ways to legally save on fuel.

What Goes into the Price of Gasoline?

Gasoline prices are one of the more mysterious consumer conundrums of modern life. Up, down, up down – it seems like you never know what to expect when you scoot into the station for your weekly fill-up. Many in the media associate gas prices with crude oil prices worldwide, but this is only part of the story. So when you buy gas, where does your dollar go? The answer lies in the supply chain.

Crude Oil

As the base product in the gasoline you pay for at the pump, crude oil makes up around 73% of your gasoline dollar. But the fluctuating cost of this precious resource is anything but crude. To start with, there are several different kinds and qualities of crude oil – all of which are priced differently. Sweet, sour, heavy and light are just a few of the types of crude oil – and all of them require very different refining techniques, with the overall cost of refining light, sweet crude hitting almost double that of its heavier counterpart, sour crude.

Distribution and Publicity

The cost of moving gasoline around – both physically and in terms of how it’s sold to a market inundated with choice – constitutes around 6 cents in every dollar you pay to fill your car. A truly global commodity, crude oil is shipped all around the world by suppliers competing for an ever-hungry market. Refineries compete for lucrative refining contracts which could see the base product travel thousands of miles before it becomes saleable gasoline. From refineries, gas is shipped to massive distribution sites where it’s stored for the next stage in its journey to your car – the trip to the gas station. Interestingly enough, remote gas stations pay up to 10% more for the final product, so it’s always worth stocking up in the big cities before heading out on a long trip.

Publicity is another big factor in the price of gasoline. We only need to switch on the TV or radio, or jump online for a few minutes to get an idea of the huge sums of money oil companies are willing to spend to create brand loyalty amongst consumers. When the cost of marketing campaigns driven by distribution companies – gas station chains – is considered, it’s easy to see how another 6% of your gasoline dollar is evaporated. This also underlines how price wars can break out as different brands fight for that ever valuable commodity known as market share.

Taxes

Taxes are the final piece of the puzzle when it comes to knowing where your gas money goes. In the United States, taxes vary from state to state but on average make up around 11% of the price of gas. If that sounds a bit heavy-handed, spare a thought for motorists in Europe and Australia, where taxes can reach as high as 30% of the total cost! Overall, gasoline taxes can include federal and state excise taxes, state sales taxes, fees for oil inspection, gross receipts taxes, storage tank fees and other miscellaneous environmental costs.

The next time you break out your cash or credit card at the gas pump, remember that it’s much more than crude oil that influences what you pay.

Will Drilling in the ANWR Really Help?

In this world, there are a number of questions that have no easy answers. There are arguments both for and against these topics, but there remain no clear deciding factors. In these cases, the answer becomes a judgment call – and the judgment is very subjective. So it is with this question – “Will drilling in the ANWR really help?”

The ANWR stands for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which is located in Alaska. The ANWR is an area of over 19 million acres of protected land along the Northern Slope of the state – an area that is larger than a number of other states combined. Recently, it has been proposed that we drill for oil in section 1002, an area of about 1.5 million acres.

The primary arguments for drilling are that the estimated oil reserves here could be between 5.7 and 16 billion barrels. This would mean a substantial increase in our domestic reserves and could help the American economy by lowering the foreign trade deficit between now and 2030, in an amount somewhere between $135 billion to $327 billion. Drilling in the ANWR has wide support among the people of Alaska, and proponents of drilling point out that the area that would be involved in the drilling would have a smaller environmental impact than the Los Angeles International Airport.

On the other side, the criticisms against drilling in the ANWR are aimed at the nature of the oil experts speculate will be found in the area. Unlike in Texas, where there are liquid oil reserves you can drill down into, the oil in the ANWR is in oil sand and oil shale. Recovering it would require drilling not straight down, but at several different angles underground. Environmentalists argue that this would impact the area above ground in a negative way. There’s also the matter of extracting the oil from the sand and shale, a process many argue is not as well developed as the oil companies would like us to believe.

Finally, there’s the matter of the native Alaskan peoples who oppose drilling in the ANWR, saying that it will cause cultural harm that can’t be repaired. They worry that drilling will impact the native food animals that make up 60 to 70 percent of their diets. In fact, representatives of more than 229 villages have officially opposed any development in the ANWR. Several native villages have found issues with the oil companies’ proposed ability to protect native species, leading the Kaktovik village to pass a resolution against Shell Oil declaring it necessary to take legal and other actions to defend the community.

With these kinds of arguments, it’s easy to see why the issue of drilling in the ANWR is in political limbo at the current time. However, arguments from both sides may become moot, as current president Obama has said that he will not support drilling in the ANWR. Only time will tell whether he sticks by his decision or whether the issue will simply be raised again once his time in office is over.

Driving Tips To Save On Gas Mileage

If you don’t want to buy a hybrid automobile and can’t wait two years for electric vehicles to hit the market, you’re probably looking for ways to improve the gas mileage on your current car. Luckily, there are some ways to improve your gas mileage simply by changing the way that you drive.

Cut down on how much you drive. Move closer to your job, carpool, use public transportation, ride your bicycle, or walk instead of driving.

Drive less aggressively. Jack rabbit starts and hard stops wreak havoc with your gas mileage. Gradually ease onto the gas and brake pedal instead.

Drive the speed limit. Most vehicles operate at optimum gas consumption at around 60 miles per hour. Every five miles per hour you drive over 60 mph reduces your gas economy.

Use your cruise control as much as possible. Maintaining a constant speed on the freeway increases your fuel economy.

Draft other cars on the highway. Travel in packs of cars on the expressway to reduce air resistance rather than driving solo. If NASCAR does it, you can too.

Travel in the slow lane on the freeway. You generally won’t have to change your speed or take your car off of cruise control.

Reduce idling. Don’t run your car’s engine while doing things like waiting to pick up the kids from school. An idling car gets 0 miles per gallon and ruins your average gas mileage.

Take the junk out of your trunk. A hundred extra pounds of weight can reduce your gas mileage by up to 2 percent.

Keep your car tuned up. One mechanical problem can seriously reduce your gas mileage, sometimes by up to 40 percent.

Minimize the use of your air conditioning. A/C decreases fuel efficiency. Often rolling down your windows will keep you cool enough.

Avoid driving during peak traffic hours such as rush hour. You’ll idle more in heavy traffic and kill your gas mileage.

Combine your errands. Turn three trips per week to the grocery store into one big trip.

Plan your driving routes. When running multiple errands, plan your trip so each stop is close to the next one to eliminate excessive driving.

Walk between driving stops. Instead of driving from store to store during errands, park your car in one central location and walk to all of the stores on your list.

Park in the first spot you find. Don’t waste gas driving around looking for the best space.

Time traffic lights. Don’t speed and then get stopped by every light. Usually lights are timed so vehicles driving the correct speed limit will hit the fewest red lights.

Using just a few of these tips will increase your gas mileage and save you money. All it involves is paying a little more attention to the way you drive. Getting better gas mileage isn’t just good for your wallet; it’s also good for the environment.

How To Spend Less On Gas

With fluctuating gas prices and a challenging economy that’s requiring us all to tighten our finances a bit, finding a way to spend less money on gas can really help. Luckily, there are some simple ways to spend less money on gas that anyone can practice.

The first way to save money on gas may seem obvious but most people don’t do it – drive less. That’s right. Just don’t drive your car as much. For example, if you’re driving your car to the grocery store several times each week, instead combine those all of those small trips into one large trip once per week or every two weeks. Do this with your other normal weekly errands as well. All it takes is a little extra planning.

You can also substitute driving with walking or riding your bicycle. If you live close enough to stores, parks, your job or other places you drive to frequently, why not walk or ride your bike instead? You could even lose a few pounds in the process. Public transportation is also an alternative if you live in a metropolitan area. Carpooling is also a great way to save on gas, and some companies even give incentives to their employees for carpooling such as discounts on gas or preferential parking.

Some folks like too far away from work to walk or ride a bike, but there are still ways to spend less money on gas. Moving closer to your place of employment could save thousands of dollars on gas over the course of a year. Buying a hybrid automobile or alternative fuel vehicle is also another way to spend less on gas. In the next couple of years, several automakers will roll out new automobiles which run completely on electricity and use no gasoline at all. The daily commuting costs to run an electric vehicle are far less than their gas guzzling counterparts.

When you do buy gas, don’t fill your tank completely if gas prices are high. Fill up with enough gas to get by. If you fill your tank by small amounts each time, you can cost average the price of gas and lower your overall fuel costs by “playing the market” and taking advantage of fluctuations in gas prices.

Find a gas station that regularly has the best prices and switch if you find one with lower prices. Be a smart gasoline consumer first and foremost, and remember that brands don’t make much of a difference. Most national companies get their gas from the same refineries based on their proximity, so all of the gas is pretty much the same. Those “special gas additives” the companies sell are more of a marketing ploy than anything else. Buy the lowest octane rating recommended by your automobile manufacturer, which is always the cheapest. Most new cars are designed to work with lower octane blends, anyway. By cutting down on your gas consumption and shopping around, you could make substantial strides towards spending less on gas.