Gas savings from driving slower

Or how about leaving home a little earlier and get back a little later and enjoy that extra pay somewhere else other than at the gas pump!

 

There are a lot of activities that don't make sense on a dollars per time basis if you figure in your going rate. Returning bottles and cans is an example. In Michigan we have a deposit of 10¢ per bottle or can. It is physically impossible for me to shove them into the return machine fast enough to make my billing rate, even without figuring the time to collect the cans and drive to the store. Do I return them? Sure. Why? Because it's the right thing to do, and besides, I can't work all the time. If I worked all the time I wouldn't be sitting here wasting my time on PC.

Tom

 

You have hit one of my pet peeves with the Sacramento County Recycling program. They only will recycle certain types of plastic (only bottles marked #1 or #2). No other types of plastics are allowed; no recycling of clamshell packaging or plastic bags. Their justification is that they cannot make money on the other types of plastics.

I don't make money separating any of the recyclables, but I do it anyway because it is the right thing to do.

 

Unfortunetly, the Boros and Counties have to meet the cost of wages, equipment, and fuel in their recycling programs.

You can always use your #6 plastics for shrinky dinks.

 

I recently rented a 2008 Chevy Silverado in order to pick up a motorcycle I bought on Craig's List. I drove 65 mph on the way up for the first 200 miles and got 23.5 mpg according to the trip computer. The seller was an hour late and didn't bring the title so I had to drive 2 hours out of the way to go to his house to get the title. This lead to me driving 75 mph on the way home to get back on time for a previous commitment. Driving 75 mph I got 19.5 mpg.

Overall I was quite impressed with the full size Chevy. Last year I rented a mid-size Dakota and only got 17.5 mpg at 75 mph.

 

Apparently GM's vehicles are actually pretty fuel efficient in their classes. People don't give them credit for that. OTOH, they're pushing vehicles that get horrific economy for the tasks that they're most often employed in (commuting, etc...). Those are pretty impressive numbers.

 

I agree. I don't own a GM but in some vehicle classes, my impression is GM has some pretty fuel efficient vehicles relative to the competition. Of course, there is plenty of room for improvement.

But I'm intrigued by their BAS hybrid. A relatively low cost BAS in a large vehicle may save as much fuel annually as more expensive solution like a "full hybrid". For instance, taking a large 20 mpg average vehicle to 25 mpg would save more fuel than taking a smaller 35 mpg vehicle to 50 mpg.

Of course, there are plenty of rabid GM-haters out there that would never buy a GM no matter how great. LOL.

 

I don't think BAS would result in that kind of improvement. Probably more like 2-3 MPG, maybe less. It really depends on the kind of driving and also the load on the electrical system (for instance a large stereo system will reduce fuel efficiency because the alternator will have more demand on it). With BAS I think the alternator is replaced so there's probably a small improvement because engine demands would be somewhat lower. Still, I say get BAS into as many vehicles as possible. At some point, perhaps soon, BAS just won't be good enough. Though BAS along with sensible power and weight reductions would go a pretty long way.

 

I liked the article except for this little snippet

Driving even slower, say 55 mph, could save slightly more gas. In fact, the old national 55 mph speed limit, instituted in 1974, was a response to the period's energy crisis.

Ummmm, there was an assumption that was tested that if you slowed down 10 mph, you would increase your fuel economy by 4 mpg. It would stand to reason that if you slowed down from 65 mph to 55 mph you would get another 4 mpg. This is not slightly better, this is much better. I don't know why (other than they didn't want to actually drive the 30 miles at 55 mph) they didn't test this to see if their original assumption was true.

I used to drive between 70 - 75 mph and got about 31 mpg. I slowed down to 55 mph about 2.5 years ago, and my overall mileage (for the last couple of years) improved to 38 mpg, pretty much in line with what this study was showing.

No one WANTS to drive 55 mph (OK, very few want to) but there are benefits. I'm guessing the article was a compromise, just try to get people to slow down to the speed limit and improve mpg's.

 

I like driving 55mph.

That is how I get my best milage. Best tank is 58mpg so far. lol

 

Trip calculations have gotten really easy with this car.
I burn about a gallon an hour, make 60 miles or so in that
time, and a tank should be good for a ten-hour haul modulo
bio breaks.
.
_H*

 

I decided to drive the old volvo S80 up to VA last week instead of the prius. I wanted to compare the prius and the volvo.

I usually drive the speed limit...mostly 55 or less. With the prius I average between 52 and 57 mpg (winter/summer) and with the volvo I was able to 31.7 mpg driving the same ~450 mile 90%hiway/10% city circuit.

My wife and daughter drive the S80 most of the time. In fact they took that car to a sports tournament this weekend. I'm quite sure that when the car gets back the average mpg will be well below the 31.7 I was able to achieve.

What was previously said by another poster is so true...leave early, drive conservatively and save money at the pump. It amazes me to be driving down the road at the speed limit, have a car rush up behind me and then pass me only to turn off the road only a few thousand feet further down the road.

I wonder if the financial discussion with drivers like that would have any impact at all?

 

I'd be interested in some type of forward projecting bumper sticker system.
So I could congratulate all those people who beat me to the stop light.

 

i'm trying to slow down. really. but i just suck at it...

 

I had to move my Dad on Friday so I rented a truck from the place for people on a Budget. It was a Ford E350 with a 10' Box on the back. Very aerodynamic. They even took the radio antenna off to improve the aerodynamics, but it didn't really help much with the radio reception.

I kept the speed below 60 mph for the whole trip and left a lot of room in front so that I could minimize use of the brakes. Let the speed drop a little on the uphill parts to keep the revs low as possible. Tried to practice the same driving style that allows me to get in the low 50's with the Prius.

87 miles on 9 gals of gas. Ooof.

 

That's pants! Not much of a surprise, I suppose.

 

This I don't understand. I absolutely want and DO drive about 55mph here. Sometimes I do it by law (towing a trailer) and all the rest of the time, I do it out of choice. Far safer, cheaper and way, WAY more relaxing. Since I spend most of my time riding my bicycle for transportation, 55mph seems insanely fast!

 

Well, assuming all it would fit, you probably would have burnt that much in the Prius with the round trips.

Taking antenna off of it was probably as effective as driving without the radio on in the Prius.