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Gas-sipping hypermilers show how to cut gas consumption
By Leah Fabel
Medill Reports: Chicago
May 29, 2007
You know the
type. They're a puttering annoyance on the freeway as you
race past, and infuriating when you miss the light because
they decelerate for a yellow. But don’t count on staring
them down at the nearest gas station—they’re hardly ever
there.
They’re
hypermilers, a growing breed of conservationists who’ve
taken a stand against what they see as America’s addiction
to oil by figuring out how to drive maximum miles on minimum
gallons. With Chicagoland leading the nation in the price of
gas, up $1.35 per gallon over the past six months to
Tuesday’s $3.65, they’re starting to seem like a pretty
sharp crowd despite their odd and elaborate practices.
“I get in my car
each morning and boot it up, but I don’t start it,” said
Wayne Gerdes, a founding father of the hypermiling movement
and the driver of a Honda Accord that he says gets 58 miles
per gallon.
“I start rolling
down the driveway, follow about a sixteenth of a mile,
ignite the motor to 25 miles per gallon for about four
seconds, then shut it down and glide,” he says.
Over the course
of his 45-minute commute from the far northern Chicago
suburb of Wadsworth to his job as a plant operator at
Braidwood Nuclear Generating Station in Will County, Gerdes
calculates his miles and gallons with the kind of careful
precision you appreciate from someone who has nuclear power
at his fingertips. “Pulse and glide,” he said of his freeway
style. “Pulse and glide.”
His passion
triggered by 9/11, Gerdes started a Web site (www.cleanmpg.com)
that has grown to nearly 1,000 members in just over a year,
hosted free gas-saving clinics in his driveway, and set
world records for most miles per gallon. Team-driving with
five other enthusiasts last September, he navigated a Honda
Insight for 2,254 miles on just one tank of gas, a mere 13.7
gallons. That world record is the equivalent of a round trip
between Chicago and Houston.
Gerdes is the
first to admit, however, that his radical “pulse and glide”
techniques aren’t for the casual driver. “You have to
understand, I am a totally serious driver focused 100
percent of the time on the traffic around me,” he said.
Safety measures, he said, not to mention legality, are
important factors, addressed on his Web site.
That said, all
drivers in any car, save perhaps the budding Nascar racer,
can learn something from hypermilers.
Rule No. 1 is to
slow down. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, each
5 mph over 60 mph costs drivers an additional 20 cents per
gallon. “Aggressive driving can lower your gas mileage by 33
percent at highway speeds and by 5 percent around town,” the
department’s Web site states.
The next step,
according hypermiling.com, is somewhat counter-intuitive:
Stay off the brakes, as well as off the accelerator. Leave
at least two seconds between yourself and the car in front
of you, the site says, in order to decrease the braking and
accelerating that uses up precious gasoline.
Then take the
no-braking strategy even further. Hypermiling.com encourages
drivers to look ahead to stop lights. If a light is about to
turn red or even a yellow, start coasting and come as near
as you can to a natural stop instead of a gas-gulping
braking halt.
Finally, avoid
braking by avoiding congestion. Nothing consumes more gas at
less gain than idling and accelerating in stop-and-go
traffic.
One of those
inspired by Gerdes is Tony Schaefer, founder of Chicago’s
Prius Group (www.chicagopriusgroup.com), likeminded
hybrid-lovers who meet periodically around the metropolitan
area hear discussions on topics ranging from car parts to
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to hypermiling.
Schaefer
nicknamed his Prius “Priapus” in honor of a Greek god of
fertility recognizable by his sizable loins. “If I had a
bumper sticker, it’d say ‘What would Priapus drive?’”
Schaefer said. “He’d drive a Prius. He had nothing to
prove.”
Though he doesn’t
claim to be a hard-core hypermiler, Schaefer’s motivations
for saving gas are similar to Gerdes’. “I truly believe our
national security is hindered by our addiction to other
countries’ oil,” he said.
Schaefer added,
“If you spend $300 each month at the bar, hopefully you
think of cheaper ways to have fun. You don’t go to the bar
and tell them their drinks are too expensive.”
Cheaper ways
to drive will be the topic of Schaefer’s speech at July’s
Hybridfest in Madison, Wis. In addition to the
strategies already discussed, Schaefer said he will “liken
driving a car to riding a bike. You don’t accelerate when
you’re going downhill.”
Schaefer will
also cheer on Gerdes as he defends his 20-mile,
180-miles-per-gallong title in the Hybrid Marathon. And
although Schaefer allows Gerdes bragging rights, the
reigning champ maintains a bigger purpose.
Gerdes said his
greatest feat has been encouraging aspiring gas-savers, such
as the time he took a young couple on the road and taught
them how to score 127 miles per gallon on a 30-mile ride in
their hybrid.
“It’s not
bragging rights,” Gerdes said about his fantastic mileage.
“It’s that there’s a pinnacle, and I want you guys to shoot
for it ’cause it’ll save all of us.”
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