Hypermilers aka Gas Savers - People Who Know How To Save Gas

Are You A Hypermiler?  Wouldn’t You Like To Be A Hypermiler Too?

Gas prices are soaring everywhere,  It’s streching your pocketbook beyond control. You don’t have a choice but to be a victim of the big oil companies… or do you?

You too can join a small elite group of savvy people who have discovered how to -

• Save Gas
• Get Better Mileage
• Become Fuel Efficient With The Vehicle You Own
• Recoup Money Spent On Gas

and call yourself a “hypermiler.” There’s no club jackets—at least, not yet. You can identify and them them by your obsessive attention to maximizing your car’s gas mileages.

The original term “hypermiler” which originated with hybrid-vehicle driving clubs whose members actively compete to see who can go furthest in exceeding the EPA’s (United States Environmental Protection Agency’s) estimated fuel efficiency.

They can do this by utilizing real-time mileage displays, hypermiler’s can accurately assess their driving techniques which deliver the best EPA ratings. Once identified, these strategies can be tweaked and refined.

At First it wasn’t a “competition” thing but… then drivers began to put their hypermiling talents to the test in hypermileage marathons (competitions). As gas prices in the United States began a radical climb in 2007, hypermiling began to draw media attention.

That was then - now is worse. So now, a hypermiler is less likely to be a hybrid-driving competitor and more likely to be just a working man or woman trying to maximize their mileage and cost savings and to try and keep their gas costs from taking a bigger and bigger bite out of the household budget.

Gas Saver SUV

Even drivers of luxury SUV’s, the vehicles favored by the more affluent families in America, are showing an increasing interest in hypermiling, hoping that a few tricks performed behind the wheel will lead to less sticker shock in front of the gas pump.  Even though SUV and saving gas, really don’t go together, we all need to try and make an effort to keep the price of gas from siphoning our bank accounts.

Extreme hypermilers claim they can increase their mileage by better than forty percent. Many say they’ve taken automobiles with an average miles-per-gallon rating of 27mpg and easily gotten to 40 mpg.

Sound like BS? Hypermilers rely on keeping their vehicles optimized to provide the best mileage possible by saving gas, like driving the speed limit and making sure their tires are inflated to the manufactures recommendation.These simple little things we neglect and take for granted, eventually add up to substantial gas savings.  If your car is already optimized then hypermiling can still help by various means other than your vehicle performing at it’s best.

They also rely heavily on a new technique of accelerating their vehicle to the posted legal speed, then coasting as far as they can without further acceleration.

What you thought maybe as a “teen’s” obsession to “tricking out” their cars, is actually a great way to get better mileage.  Or I should say - maintain your mileage rates.  Now I’m not talking about 50 inch rims and a giant thing in the back that looks like an airplane wing - I’m talking about the airdam.  It’s a front bumper extension that is lower to the pavement and reduces air from going under your vehicle.  Basically it’s cutting down drag.

As an example, is it easier to walk in knee high water or on a dry surface?  In this case, water equals “drag” drag makes you work harder to maintain the same speed.  More power usage equates to more gas being burned.

Primarily originating in the US, the concept of “hypermiling” maximizing fuel efficiency has worldwide appeal. In European countries, they use a term called “ecodriving”. Their gas prices are even higher, about twice as much as what American’s pay for gas. Much like hypermiling, ecodriving is pretty much the same concept of driving and not wasting gas.

So despite where on the planet you live and what you choose to call yourself, most drivers today will agree that the days of low-cost gas and cars that guzzle it with abandon are over. Dwindling gas supplies, rising prices and the threats of pollution and global warming are all indicators that hypermiling and ecodriving will become permanent parts of not just the world vocabulary, but also the world conscience.

On a positive note for gas guzzlers, there will be an abundance of SUV’s and other vehicles with poor mileage available for purchase.  You’ll surely be able to get a good deal, since the dealerships are struggling to move them.