Stuff You Should Know - How can hypermiling save you gas?

Episode Date: July 2, 2009

The EPA tests vehicles for maximum fuel efficiency, but those impressive estimates don't always pan out in real life. Hypermiling is one sure-fire way to improve your fuel efficiency. Find out how it works in this podcast from HowStuffWorks.com. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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to wander. Plan your next dining adventure at visitmississippi.org slash dining. Mississippi. Wanderers, welcome. Brought to you by the reinvented 2012 Camry. It's ready. Are you? Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from HowStuffWorks.com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. With me is Chuck Bryant. We are podcasting right in the midst of death season, Chuck. Wow. Yeah. I don't know. Ed McMahon, Para Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Billy Mays, some impressionist I don't know. Yeah, that comedian guy. Yeah. People drop in like flies. Wow. Yeah. I feel lucky to be here. I do too, actually, Chuck. I'm on vacation. I know you are. Chuck Bryant is such a world-class employee that he actually came in while on vacation to podcast.

This is, I'm freshened from the airport. Yep. From a wedding in Columbus, Ohio. How was it? My first Catholic wedding, dude. Those things are awesome, aren't they? My first one ever. Plenty of wine. Yeah, the reception, sure. Yeah. But no wine at the, at the mass or you were looking around. There were flasks of wine in the pews. Yeah, believe me. It was long. Pretty cool, though. I've never experienced that. When everyone started reciting the things. Chanting. Is it called chanting? I call it chanting. It freaked me out at first. Yeah. Quite honestly, because I grew up Baptist and there's people don't say anything out loud in Baptist churches. But it was interesting. Definitely a cool experience to go through. That's, you only

really need to do it once. I would agree, you know. And I doubt if I'll go to a lot more weddings. Dude, when I was living in Toledo, I probably spent 50 to 70 hours a week in a Catholic wedding. Really? A series of Catholic weddings. Yeah. Columbus is pretty cool, though. It's, yeah. Ohio State. Not bad. Go Buckeyes. All right. Are we done? Yes. Okay. What are we talking about today? We are talking about gas mileage. Oh, yes. And how it's calculated, right? Yep. Kick us off, Chuck. Well, something you folks might notice when you go to buy a car these days. They'll advertise certain gas mileage. And you may not get the gas mileage when you're driving the car that was on the sticker on the side of the car or on the TV commercial.

That was kicking us off. That's a very common thing to not get the gas mileage that's stated. Well, why? Well, because, well, let's get into this. All right. Let's do it, Chuck. So basically, as you stated, pretty much God and everybody knows that whatever that says on the sticker on the car for whatever it's miles per gallon has been calculated at is vastly more than what you're actually going to get. Right. And it's not because the EPA isn't putting cars that it tests through rigorous experiences, right? It's not because they don't care. No. As a matter of fact, they don't test almost any of the cars that come out. That's actually left to the auto manufacturers. Yeah, I was kind of surprised. They submit their findings to the EPA for review. And then the EPA,

I guess, randomly tests about 10 to 15 percent of the new models that are released. Yeah. I was a little disappointed. I would have thought the EPA would be a little more involved in that. You would think so, but no, not really. You're busy, though, saving the planet. We're busy running around trying to figure out how to bring super fun sites back. Exactly. Yes. Brownfields. Right. So, Chuck, the other, I guess, big weirdness that has to do with EPA fuel efficiency calculations is that cars actually don't ever see the road. True. They're put on, what are they called? It's called a, it sounds kind of fantastic. It's called a dynamometer. Nice. Dynamometer. Dynamometer. Dynamometer. Dynamometer. Yeah, something like,

along those lines. Let's call it a fun machine. Yes. Actually, it's like a treadmill for cars, what it is. Right. So the car is actually in a lab being tested. Yeah. And it's kind of like Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Exactly. Not in reverse. Right. And I guess they have the city, they have a city test, which is what? Well, both tests involve a professional driver. So this, yeah, I wonder how much they get paid. Yeah, that's a good question. Go into the EPA, test drive a car for a few minutes. I wonder what everybody gets paid. Do you? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm one of those guys. So yeah, a professional driver gets in to simulate, depending on which test city or highway, which driving conditions. So the city program, what they do is they get in,

start the engine cold, and then they simulate, stop and go traffic, idling, that kind of thing. Think they say 11 miles is how far they drive. Right. And they make 23 stops over the course of 31 minutes. Right. Drive an average speed of 20 miles an hour and the top speed of 56 miles an hour, which is, yeah, it seems smart. Yeah. Okay. All right. And then the highway test, you start out with a warm engine and they drive 10 miles with an average speed of 48 miles per hour and a top speed of 60 miles per hour for about 12 and a half minutes. Right. So let me go and say 60 top speed. Same for me, pal. Not really believable. Bat out of hell. Yeah. I just drive as fast as I can. And if you are in front of me in the fast lane and you're not driving faster than

me, I'm all upon you. You're like the Germans. Pretty much. Or Winston Wolfe. Yeah. Yeah, not quite as fast as that. Well, that's because you don't have a Maserati. I can't get my Volvo up that high now. No, but okay. So these two tests, they seem logical enough. Here's where things become really illogical and where the discrepancies come from, right? Right. The whole time the EPA is conducting these tests or the auto manufacturers conducting the test, there is a little sensor jammed into the tailpipe stuck in there. Right. Like when you go to do the emissions testing. Sure. And this thing is measuring how much carbon is present in the exhaust. Right. So instead of looking at the tank meter or whatever. The gas gauge. The gas gauge. The tank meter. Sure. What

country am I from? The gas gauge. Yeah, that would be the easy way to do it and just divide. But yeah, they say this is actually more accurate. It is more accurate. The thing is, I mean, do you drive around with the sensor jammed in your tailpipe? I do not, sir. No, nor do I. Very clean person. And neither do most people. Right. Correct. So this is why when you go by a car, the miles per gallon calculated are vastly different. That's not the only problem. Right. Right. Because it's in a lab, that automatically changes everything. Everything. Not only do we not drive around with sensors jammed up our tailpipes, we also don't drive in laboratories on dynamometers. Right. And there are many, many differences between a dynamometer in a lab and

on the road. We're going to lick that word before this podcast. Weather. That's a big one. Wind resistance. Most laboratories are indoors. Right. Different having passengers in your car, having a roof rack with your stupid bike on the back. Yeah. Wait aerodynamics. And that's really probably the biggest one as far as I'm concerned. I mean, think about it. The car is not moving. It's just the wheels. Right. Just the wheels. So there's no drag whatsoever. None. Like when I'm flying down 75 doing 90 miles per hour and it's hot out, I've got all four of my windows rolled down and that just devastates fuel efficiency. Yeah. Yeah. True. Which completely changes the aerodynamic characteristics of the car, which Volvo's are kind of boxy to begin with. Right.

Right. But yeah, I've noticed my gas gauge is go over like 20 miles. I used to drive a Plymouth Valiant. Did I ever tell you about my car T? That was great. Isn't that the one you drove back from LA? Well, I towed it to LA. I towed it to LA. It wouldn't have made the drive. You bought it in LA. No, I bought it here and towed it out there. I've never heard of this car then. Well, it's a great car, but it was one of those old gas guzzlers. And this thing literally, dude, if I was accelerating on the highway, if you looked hard enough, you could see the needle move. Wow. Yeah. It was bad. It was real bad. The other things they don't account for, Josh, since we're talking about this, is what they call jackrabbit starts or lead foot acceleration,

because that will burn up your gas quicker. Oh, yeah. And that's realistic city driving, you know? Oh, definitely. Most people don't just go, they go, eh. Right. You know who does do that? Who? Chris Cox, our co-worker. I see a slow patient driver. Yeah. And I hope he listens to this. I hope he does too. If you are listening, Chris, stay out of the fast lane. Another problem with this test, and I know it seems like we're saying that there's nothing but problems with this test, but that's because there isn't, is that it tends to favor, dramatically favor hybrids. Right. Because I believe city driving is where the hybrid really gets the most. It's almost all electric, which produces zero emissions. Sure. And I guess they haven't adjusted the formula

to account for that. So, you know, all of a sudden the, you know, some hybrid cars just getting these incredible miles per gallon ratings when they don't really. Right. There are some ways around this. Well, before we get to that, can I mention one more thing? Oh, yeah. These are brand spanking new cars that they're driving. Oh, yes. And not only that, they've been broken in properly. Oh, they have? Uh-huh. There's actually a way that you're supposed to break in a car. Oh, when you first buy one? Uh-huh. And I think it does take place over the course of a couple thousand miles, but you want to drive, I think, no more than 60. Okay. And then stop it, and it staggered. There's this whole process to it. It could actually probably take up part of a podcast

itself. Right. And I don't know enough about it to go into it, because I've never had a new car. No one does that. But that's the way you're supposed to do it. Right. So, apparently, the EPA does it. So, these are brand new cars that have been properly broken in. Right. And so, they get maximum fuel efficiency. Right. And I think the point, I guess my original point was, if you... I don't remember back that far. If you don't maintain your car and a lot of people don't maintain their car like you probably should, you're going to get worse gas mileage. Right. Plus, they don't have any of the electrical system running. No AC. Yeah. Well, AC, I was going to mention. The tires are perfectly inflated.

Yep. Exactly. Basically, this is like what the EPA thinks everybody should be driving, and absolutely no one does. Well, they said they were going to... And we should follow up on this. They said they were going to start doing more realistic tests in the future. And they said that, I think... The future... Yeah. I'm not sure if that's an effect yet. But they did say they were going to try and start taking some of these more things into account. It's about time. It is. You know? Agreed. And just look at the gas gauge like everybody else. No one cares how much carbon's present in the exhaust. Save that for the emissions inspection. Yeah. So, Chuck, as I was saying... Yes. Cheating the EPA. Yeah. There's some ways to beat the EPA

at their own game. Right. Well, beat your car at its own game. Or the oil companies. Are you talking about hypermiling? I am, Chuck. You know what that is? Hypermiling? Yeah. Yeah, sure. Okay. Well, do you know who coined it? Some dude in Chicago. What's his name? Wayne Gerdas. Yes. The king of hypermiling. Yeah. I think... I'm not sure if he won the title or not, but I think he's the world's most fuel-efficient driver. I think so, too. Yeah. And he is dedicated to it. Like, I will never hypermile, ever. It just takes too much patience and you're slow. You're the slowest driver on the road when you're hypermiling. Right. You hyperdrive. Thanks. That's different. But it definitely improves your fuel efficiency, for sure. Yeah, I got a stat. Let's

hear it. Edmonds, the car magazine Edmonds, they did an experiment and they found that hypermiling, you can get an extra 35% more per gallon and that was in a Land Rover. Yeah, which guzzles. And apparently, if you hypermile in, like, a Toyota Prius, you can bump it up to, like, 80 to 100 miles a gallon, they say. Yeah, I saw a picture. There was a Mother Jones article on Wayne Gerdas and they had two shots of these two different dashboards. One from a Prius and I think one from an Insight or something like that. Uh-huh. And these things were clocking, like, 150 miles per gallon. Man, that's nuts. Yeah, it is nuts. And I don't drive, I probably, I don't even know if I put 50 miles a week on my car, maybe 75 miles a week. You could make a tank and gas last, like,

a year like that. I could, if I had a Prius, I should do that. Yeah. But I have my old Civic and gets decent gas mileage, but I don't drive enough to invest in a new car at this point. Well, the cool thing about hypermiling is you don't need a new car. You can do it with any car. Yeah, that's true. It's merely a series of techniques. You don't have to go buy anything. Right. You don't have to do anything except drive pretty conscientiously and be aware of what you're doing, like accelerating and braking too quickly, you were saying. Uh-huh. That was the Edmunds test? Yeah. That was based on taking off at a red light or just driving up to a red light and slamming on your brakes. They're both wastes of gas. Right. So, too, is driving on the highway without cruise control. Yeah,

I didn't realize that. They actually, that same test by Edmunds actually vastly improved the fuel efficiency of the Land Rover. And I think they tested a Mustang too. Uh-huh. But they got the biggest bang for their buck using cruise control at 70 on the Land Rover. Because if you think about it, I mean, even if you're really paying attention to staying at 70 miles an hour, it's still based on your foot. And your foot is flawed. It's kind of heavy, it's a clumsy thing. I have a club foot. I know you do. I wasn't going to bring it up. Right. So, yeah, you want to rely on cruise control. Those two things alone will really increase your fuel efficiency. Right. Driving at lower speeds is a really important thing too. Yeah, did it say anywhere what the

ideal speed was? No, but I've always heard 60. Oh, really? I've always heard like 35 to 40 for like the ultimate gas mileage. I'm talking highway. Oh, okay. Sure. Yeah, you'll get in trouble if you drive 35 to 40. Right. No, that makes sense then. Yeah. I think in the city though, it's 35 to 40. Is it? Yeah. Well, I know that they used to have much. Well, I guess today's posted speed limits back in the early 70s or late 60s. And then because of the oil embargo, that's when they were dropped down to 55 was to increase fuel efficiency in cars. And then they've kicked it back up. Yeah. Because everybody's like, we want to drive fast again. We don't care about it. We're on the highway to hell anyway. Just let us drive as

fast as we want. That can't drive 55 crowd. And AC apparently is kind of a big one using it at max power. Yeah. Which is decisive, uncompromising and rude. I have to though. Yeah, I don't, my AC doesn't work. As I said, I drive down the highway with the windows open. Yeah. And that apparently is way worse than driving with your AC on. Right, because of the drag. Sure. For food lovers, there's no place on earth like Mississippi where sweet, spicy and smoky flavors satisfy your spirits. Wherever you wonder plan today, visit Mississippi.org slash dining Mississippi. Wanderers welcome. Has your household been hit with COVID-19? Learn about a research study from the comfort of home. We are looking at ways to help people with COVID-19 feel better, faster.

Learn more at active6study.org slash radio. That's activ6study.org slash radio. And this guy, he also, doesn't he coast and cut his engine early if he's approaching a parking space? So he'll coast the last however far he can to park his car. And Gerd is actually on his site, I think it's cleanmpg.com. If that's not his site, he writes heavily for it. He answered an age old question for me. If you are going to be idling for longer than seven seconds, turn your car off. Really? Because it takes about seven seconds worth of gas to turn a fuel injected car over. Yeah. I've always wondered. Yeah. I've never heard like an, whoever told me, I didn't believe. Right. I believe this guy. Sure. So if you're sitting like at a drive-through or

something, turn the car off. Yeah. You know? That's a great idea. Yeah. And then there's some slightly more advanced techniques for people who are really into this. Patient people. Like what? Like ridge riding. Don't know that. That was actually another term coined by Gerdus that I hope I'm saying his last name right. I've never met the guy. So. Gerd. Okay. It's where you hug the far right line, solid line of the far right lane on the highway. Okay. And one of the, there's, you do this for two reasons. One is to make yourself really obvious and noticeable to other drivers so they have an opportunity to pass you early. Because you're going 35 miles an hour. Yeah. Because I think he drives like 50. Right. Or 45 or 50 on the highway. On the highway.

So then I was probably wrong about 60 because this guy's probably going to drive at the optimal speed on the highway. Yeah. So number one, it makes you obvious because you're not positioned like everybody else. Okay. But secondly, in bad weather, especially rain, you're actually taking yourself out of those depressions that have worn into the asphalt where the puddles are forming. Right. And that will slow you down? Sure. Running through water. Yeah. I didn't realize that. Yeah. Definitely. Because your wheels are moving, but you're not getting anywhere. Oh, okay. That makes sense. So you've lost traction. You're a hypermiler, Josh, in a way. I just know a lot about it. Again, I'll never do it. Right. And then probably my favorite

is distant anticipatory focus. DAF. Yeah. So Gerdus basically tries to drive like he doesn't have brakes. Oh, yeah. Okay. He maintains a very slow steady pace. So he's looking several lights ahead. Right. To time his driving to that light. Right. He's trying to accelerate slowly to keep in time with these lights because he wants nothing but green lights. Gotcha. That makes sense. He never has to use his brakes. That saves quite a bit too. Of course, this is the same guy who also turns off his ignition and coasts into parking spaces. Right. So, yeah. But that's pretty much hypermiling. I mean, there's actually a lot more to it. Taking advantage of other cars like using 18-wheelers to draft off of. Yeah. Well, that's a lot of the NASCAR guys hypermile.

Yeah. They don't call it that. I don't know what they call it. Racing. Someone probably has that answer. But during the caution when they have debris on the track. And the pace cars there. Yeah. The little guy will throw out the caution flag and that means everyone's got to slow down until they clean all the crud off the track. And a lot of the drivers will cut their engines and coast for a while and then cut them back on and then cut them again. And then while they're racing, they will draft. That's a very popular technique to save fuel. Yeah. Because in NASCAR, the fewer stops, the better. Sure. Obviously. Yeah. You a NASCAR guy? No. Me neither. I watched it for a while. Remember, I really love the origin of NASCAR. Yeah. Bootlegging. Other than that,

I'm not really in a NASCAR. My sister-in-law, Sarah, who I was just with in Ohio, is big into NASCAR. And we always give her a hard time. Yeah. We call her a redneck and stuff. That's funny. Yeah. It's good. Well, Chuck, that's about it. No. I mean, really until we come up with an alternative fuel source or, you know, standard 100 mile an hour or 100 miles per gallon cars. Right. It's a good idea, hyper mile. Yeah. We should say though, I think exercise and caution, if you want to try this stuff out, because, you know, some cars, if you turn the key off, don't turn all the way off because your steering wheel will lock up. That's a good point, Chuck. And I think sometimes the air brakes are activated when you start the car, right? Yeah. So I think

you want to keep it set to ignition or start? Yeah. Keep it set to the on position. Yeah. So you can still hear your radio. No. So you still see lights on the dashboard. Right. Yeah. So just just be careful if you want to try some experimentation here. You were really good at COA, buddy. Well, I could see some body. Do you have any idea how many times we would have been sued? I know. Were it not for you? In just my mind's eye, I just pictured someone saying, Josh and Chuck said to cut my engine. And all of a sudden it's like, who's this Josh and Chuck? They go to pull into the car to the parking space and their steering wheel locks up and never wreck it six miles an hour. Well, good. All right. That's hypermiling and EPA. We'll

keep an eye out to see if the EPA actually does do any real world testing. Good idea. So what? Listener mail. I think so. Okay. Nowhere to go but up, right? Josh, we are going to call this what was in my inbox before I came in. Listener mail. Awesome. That's a secret. Actually, I should never reveal that. The good way to go and listener mail is to email me the day we record. It's not a secret any longer. It is not. This is about the Peter principle. Remember we did a podcast about the fact that many companies will not demote somebody that will just fire somebody if they're incompetent. And this is from Jennifer and she says that she worked for the same company, has still working there for five or six years. And last

November, she was worked her way up to the top of a sales support and she was kicked down to reception instead of fired. Wow. And she was told about her new job and said that she was getting the demotion because she was the weakest person on the team. It's a little harsh. I thought so. And she asked him during the meeting, why didn't they just fire her? And they said, because she was still a very important part of the team. Good cut back. It's just the worst part of the team. Exactly. Very important part of our team, but the worst part. Don't forget that. And she said that her pay didn't change. So she's actually a very high paid receptionist and actually makes more than a lot of people on the sales team now at the reception.

Which I'll bet the sales team just loves. And we actually did have someone else email another company that said that they practiced this as well. Well, it's fantastic. Two out of several hundred thousand. Yeah. Not too bad. And she also adds here at the end that we sometimes give shout outs to our men and women overseas who are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and to support them. And she says that she's an Air Force wife and that we should mention the families occasionally they're left behind because it's very hard on them. Do it Chuck. And my brother-in-law is in the Marine Corps and he has been deployed many times. My sister Michelle and her kid Shelby and Reagan are often left at home for months at a time and it is hard on the family. So when we say

support the troops we mean the whole family the whole kid. Nicely done Chuck. Thank you. Nicely done. That's it. Well, if you want to me a couple out of Chuck you can email us at Stuff Podcast at HowStuffWorks.com. For more on this and thousands of other topics visit HowStuffWorks.com. Want more HowStuffWorks? Check out our blogs on the HowStuffWorks.com homepage brought to you by the reinvented 2012 Camry. It's ready. Are you? It's been said that a day of traveling will bring a basket full of learning. Fill your basket to the brim in Mississippi with family friendly experiences like the new Mississippi Aquarium the recently expanded Hattiesburg Zoo the Tupelo Buffalo Park and Zoo and sports and literary attractions too. Expand your sense of wonder

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