Hypermilers Push the Limits of Fuel Efficiency

Hypermilers in the left lane push the limits of patience!

While I understand their motivation and respect their innovation, many of the techniques used by hypermilers are illegal and some are downright dangerous to themselves and others on the road.

Interesting. Such as what, exactly?

One thing is shutting off the engine to conserve fuel while driving.

Drafting trucks often requires following too close.

Driving with your lights off (at night or a low light conditions).

Removing safety equip from your car to reduce drag (i.e., wipers).

A more subjective one may be how the police interpret your driving habits (i.e., too slow, causing problems for traffic, etc.).

Coasting - illegal

Drafting - dangerous & illegal

Driving at speeds significantly under the speed limit - dangerous, possibly illegal

Many highways do have a minimum speed limit.

Hahahahahahahahaaaaaa, cough, cough, gasp.... turn off haha car when, choke gurgle, driving? Hmmmmmm, what do these people do? Unistall the power steering and brakes so that they can have control with out the enigne on, oh wait I am sorry, gliding? What else do they do? Strip off all "unessential" and extra weight like passenger seats (don't you know that the extra weight from carrying an additional person or even the seat for that person might lower that most desirable mpg?), or how about airbags, or THE A/C (bet none of these losers live in the desert where they might need to lower their mpg by turning on the a/c from time to time)? Gliding... what will they think of next?..........

Actually most modern auto transmissions and1950's Rover cars have freewheel fitted which allows no connectionto the engine on certain overun conditions while fuel injected cars routinely shut all the fuel off when coasting downhill. As far as hypermilage goes, You can build 3.0 litre engines that will put out 1300 horsepower but the same technology will produce 60 miles per gallon. Of course in both cases the engine is rather expensive to make.

personnally I like the

ENTZ transmission!

HMmmmmmmmm, but would it be aviable way of running a car? An electro magnetic transmission that uses a fan or something to shift? Sounds cool though. Although, I think that the 1300 horses would sound even cooler

cheers

I find it interesting that comments about safety and legal issues arise.

Drafting is too close? The last time I drove a major highway everyone follows too close.

Driving the speed limit is too slow? So speeding is safe and legal I guess.

Coasting illegal? Many of the fuel sipping cars don't have power steering. As for brakes.... they work without the power too.

Last week my water pump went on my car. To get where I needed to be without overheating the car I would accelerate slowly and when up to speed I shut the car off and coasted to the next light. It was very easy and I didn't have any issues at all. I generally kept up to traffic without bothering anyone. During this I realized how much of a fuel savings it would be if my car did this automatically.

There have been electric hybrids that shut off when you release the throttle. Even gas engine drives that shut off when you apply the brakes.

Because everyone tailgates does not make it right.

As far as speed goes, I think I was concerned with people driving much slower than surrounding traffic.

As for coasting, it is not smart to handicap yourself by shutting off your car and losing power steering and particularly brakes! Worse yet, is if you turn the key off you also lock the steering wheel until you get the key back to the run position. Any force applied to the wheel could make it hard or impossible to get the wheel free, particularly in a panic.

You have heard how people have been standing on the throttle thinking they were on the brake pedal? It may sound stupid, but when a person is under stress or a panic situation your reactions are not always what you would expect.

If you ever get the chance to train as a pilot you will have a much greater appreciation for the things I have mentioned and they won't seem so trivial.

I don't know of any car or hybrid that automatically turns off power steering or brakes when going into an economy mode when releasing the throttle. Please cite some examples and are they DOT approved cars?

Your example with the failed water pump is an exception condition and it makes sense to me, but as a routine way to drive it is a hazard if everyone is doing it because it raises the probability of driver error when it is unnecessary.

Also, starting the engine is when the greatest amount engine wear occurs. It may save gas, but it is also penny wise and pound foolish when you factor the cost of the engine with premature wear.

Stopping an engine while driving just to save gas is just stupid. If you are financially in a position where you have to do that, take the bus or bum a ride from someone else or get a better job. Better yet, walk or ride a bike because I would question your judgment as a driver.

Using terms like "not smart", "foolish" and "stupid" is no way of discussing a topic.

Instead of being rude you may wish to consider the validity of the real accomplishments in fuel savings and how they may be developed into the design of a fuel saving vehicle.

Such as:

- friendlier steering geometry that does not need to be power assisted.

- brake systems that (also) do not need to be power assisted.

- drive systems that can go into a "stand-by" mode and only wake up when power is required.

- different gear ratios that apply to real world driving conditions so that speed is less of a factor on fuel economy.

As far as drafting any vehicle, I don't think it really makes sense in the long run. It's not very safe.

Hello Hero. I can agree with your argument. Stupid is a commodity. I want to go off topic slightly if you don't mind.

A friend of mine found and answer to the "tailgaters" on the highways. It would seem that his SUV is a good target for the fly weight cars. These light weight cars seem to get sucked down the road pretty well. My friend can hardly see the darn car behind him. After being bumped several times from the rear by these little cars, he came up with a plan to fight back, as he put it.

He added to the hitch of his SUV a spring loaded single action cylinder with a special made rod having a rounded point on it. With a push of a switch, this rod shoots out the back of is SUV 28 inches and at lighting speed re tracks out of sight. That is how he choose to deal with the people who tailgate.

My thought on the matter is: when laws are not enforced, force becomes the law. Is he wrong for what he is doing? Perhaps but then again after being bumped by the same person twice, I could understand his anger and not necessarily his actions.

Tailgaters, rig the passenger washer fluid to spray over your vehicle into the draft.

As for the lack of power assist on a normal power steering vehicle, I found that after driving for a year without it on my 3/4 ton Pickup the danger was when I found the part to fix it. It had a bad case of over steer.

Brad

I sympathise, but the problem with force is when your actions kill someone, like maybe his your own child who is playing behind the car when he demonstrates the switch to his mate?

Mate of mine solved the problem, he made a big LED sign that could display messages to the following vehicle...eg ' TOO CLOSE' and if this didn't work ...'FUCK OFF'..

He got followed one day...a big bury guy got out strode up to him and said.
.
..
...
....

'Hey that's really good , where did you get it'... whew...he'd thaught he was in big trouble

Del

I think I've mentioned this before but I was working with a guy that would carry a foam brick in his truck and whenever somebody would follow too close, he'd lower his window and hold the "brick" up like he was gonna throw it.....they'd get the message...