Hypermiling - Techniques for Maximum MPG

The passion that burns in Laurie With isn't visible until she gets behind the wheel of her Honda Civic hybrid -- and drives real slow.

She accelerates gently when the light turns green, and coasts down hills to save gas. On highways, she stays in the right lane and watches the big SUVs zoom past.

"When I see someone roar past me, I think, 'They just used enough gas to last me a week,' " she said.

She is part of a small and extremely dedicated group of drivers around the country who call themselves "hypermilers." They almost exclusively drive hybrid vehicles, and their goal is simple: squeeze every mile they can out of each drop of gas.

Some of their tips are a matter of common sense and could help any driver, especially now, with gas reaching $3.50 a gallon: avoid jackrabbit starts, use alternate routes to avoid stop-and-go traffic, anticipate lights and drive a bit slower.

But those are just a start. Hypermilers slightly overinflate their tires to cut rolling resistance, seize every chance to coast with their gasoline engines off and sometimes "draft" like race cars behind larger vehicles.

Some of these techniques are dangerous, and some can't even be done in certain vahicles.

Chuck Thomas, a 49-year-old computer programmer in Lewisville, Texas, milks his hybrid Honda Insight for about 75 miles per gallon, 10 more than the government estimate for the vehicle in mixed gas-and-electric driving.

"I do as few accelerations and brakings as possible to get up to speed and maintain it," he said. He cruises a bit below the speed limit, avoids lane changes and coasts to red lights.

Wayne Gerdes, who runs a Web site dedicated to high mileage ( www.cleanmpg.com) and claims to have coined the term hypermiling, lists a variety of other techniques:

• Park at the highest point of a lot, facing the exit, so gravity can help get the car moving.

• Use "pulse and glide": Accelerate to above the speed limit, then shut the gasoline engine down and glide to a speed below the limit. It is fairly easy to do in a hybrid, but in a gas-only vehicle it can be dangerous because power brakes might not work and some automatic transmissions won't re-engage at highway speeds. In a gas-only vehicle, without a lot of practice, "you can wind up killing somebody," Gerdes says. (It's also illegal in many places.)

source: The Columbus Dispatch