Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 11:58:54 -0500
Reply-To: Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Subject: Re: More Energy Saving schtuff...VLVC
In-Reply-To: <e14d01a7888bac7b822c73505916111d@speakeasy.net>
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I don't know if anyone knows (or can simultaneously practice) all the
techniques, but here are some.
1. Don't change speeds more than you have to. In the city, this means
slowing down in anticipation of a red light turning green, and
judging the traffic so that you can resume acceleration as slightly
as possible, keeping your top speed down to the point that the least
amount of deceleration is required to do the slowing-down part. My
brother-in-law is an expert at this as he has done it all the way to
work and back the same route for years.
2. On the highway, keep your foot out of accelerator and keep the top
speed down. Don't floor the accelerator, ever, and don't open it
wider than the car can easily make up in speed. In other words, learn
to "lead" the car's acceleration just slightly with your foot for
easy accelerations.
3. Do the obvious: make sure the engine and accessories, tires and
etc. are in good shape and the car is aligned.
4. Keep extra weight out of the car.
5. Most cars (maybe all) are said to be so much better
aerodynamically with the windows up than with them open that you'll
probably consume less fuel with the AC on on a hot day.
6. Do the other obvious stuff: park it if you don't need to drive it.
Combine your trips. Mark on a calendar (I do) when you fill up and
how much it costs, and figure your mileage. That way you'll know when
what you're doing is working and when it isn't.
I'm sure others can add far more, but you'll see a big difference
from driving easy. Without getting obsessive about tactics and
techniques, I'm getting nearly 21 mpg rather than the normal 19.2
(which I traditionally consider my "good" mileage) from just keeping
my foot out of it. What that translates into is getting about 270
miles out of 13 gallons (where I usually fill up) rather than 250.
But this hides the true savings that come from planning--what did I
accomplish with the extra 20 miles per tank by combining trips for
stuff with attending meetings, etc. Did I waste it or accomplish
something I actually needed to do?--as well as another set of true
savings, revealed only by the calendar and wallet, that come from
extending the period between my fillups so that I spend less per
month, and eventually, less per year and per lifetime.
All this, too, ignores what I'm saving by keeping a car I bought in
1990 and saving a 1983 diesel, in order to minimize the social end
environment cost of making new cars (allright, allright, I really
don't think about that when I'm having fun driving them and getting
attention because they are "cool cars" by today's standards.)
Not everyone can vary their driving as much as I can; they have to go
to work some distance from their home, they can't ride a bike or walk
anywhere. For them, the savings will have to come through driving
techniques and details. But I think the important thing is that we do
what we can do, on the big scale anyway. Try not to think about the
fact that what you save per tank by doing everything you can, your
neighbor's SUV consumes on the way to the gas station and back!
Jim
On Apr 25, 2006, at 11:40 PM, monte merrick wrote:
> elaborate please.
>
> i think i know how to drive but, like all perfectionists, i recognize
> my knowledge as provisional and always i am at the ready to learn.
>
>
> On Apr 25, 2006, at 9:29 PM, -------------------- wrote:
>
> The best think anyone can do to save fuel is learn how to drive.
> Its not fun, or easy, but it works.
> Joe. W
>
>
> David Bohannan wrote:
>
>> I've been on a mission to see what other things can be done to
>> increase mpg,
>> etc when water injection came to mind...
>>
>> A couple searches yielded this website:
>> http://www.eagle-research.com/index.html
>>
>> Someone in close proximity told me its all snake-oil...but then
>> again,
>> literally last Friday he just bought his 3rd car- a 2006 Ford
>> Expedition-
>> what the heck does he care!??!
>>
>> Anyhow, is there any credibility to this type of stuff? I know there
>> are
>> listmembers that could prolly weigh in on this...
>>
>> --
>> Dave - KC9FYM
>> http://fjazzbass.blogspot.com
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> "I long ago lost a hound, a bay horse, and a turtle dove, and am still
> on their trail. Many are the travelers I have spoken to concerning
> them, describing their tracks and what calls they answered to. I have
> met one or two who had heard the hound, and the tramp of the horse,
> and
> even seen the dove disappear behind a cloud, and they seemed as
> anxious
> to recover them as if they had lost them themselves." - henry thoreau
>
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