Per many requests, this sectuion is dedicated to discussions on fuel economy improvements and related modifications.

Good start for learning about hypermiling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermiling

 

 

Interesting reading!

 

Very cool! Thanks! I follow this closely




Goose

 

Question, what saves more fuel?

Situation: You see the light turn green up ahead. You are on the local road, crossing the highway. It's a short light in your direction, and a long light the other way. Do you nail the gas to get through the light, or do your slow roll, stop, shut-off the engine to wait for the light?

My choice is to nail the gas, as starting from a dead stop uses most gas. Am I wrong ? This also saves me time.

 

Depends on the distance to the light... nailing it could put you in the middle of cross traffic. If close enough to maybe just squeek in when the light changes red, then I'll do the same though... but, gotta watch the first cars in line (cross traffic) waiting to jump the light for a left turn before the light actually turns green.

Bottom line is, gotta watch out for the other guy. defensive.

P.S. no cops in sight - you could get a ticket.

 

Since I have a very analytical mind here are some basic calculations.

First the assumptions:
Gas price - $4.00 per gallon
MPG at a given speed - Taken from my observations and others posted here on the site (This will be the most debated)
The additional amounts are incremental to the previous calculation.

33 mpg
1600 miles round trip-- $4.00 $ per gallon
65 miles per hour-- 48.48 gallons needed
24.62 hours -- $193.94 $ spent

29 mpg
1600 miles round trip-- $4.00 $ per gallon
70 miles per hour-- 55.17 gallons needed
22.86 hours -- $220.69 $ spent

Additional time 1:45-- Additional dollars $26.75

25 mpg
1600 miles round trip-- $4.00 $ per gallon
75 miles per hour-- 64.00 gallons needed
21.33 hours -- $256.00 $ spent

Additional time 1:31-- Additional dollars $35.31

Total Additional Time 3:16 -- dollars $62.06

So is it worth it to go faster that 65 miles per hour?
If I go 70 MPH, I save 1 hour and 45 minutes but spend an additional $26.75, which is $15.28 per hour.
If I go 75 MPH, I save 3 hours and 16 minutes and spend an additional $62.06, which is $19.09 per hour.
My time is worth more than $19.09 per hour so I would spend the additional $62 to save 3 hours.

 

:twothumbs "What He Said"

 

I remember when they first started coming out with cameras in the intersections,I thought great here comes "Big Brother". Now I pray my town gets them because you can`t move on a green without some Ahole running through on the red. Do you really think your going to save some minuscule amount of fuel to make this worth it. I hope your driving your family around sometime when someone pulls that on you. Will you think "hey,hes just trying to save some fuel"?

 

We have several red light cameras in this area - along with some of the worst intersections in the U.S. (Roosevelt Blvd (US1) and Red Lion Rd in Philadelphia, PA and Roosevelt Blvd (US1) and Grant Ave also in Phila.) according to AAA. I would never attempt that at either of those intersections or many others for that matter. All I was saying was that you need to be cautious when doing anything like that. As you said, Its just not worth the risk. If the light was going to be dead red as I hit the intersection that would be a no-no. The ones I was referring to are the ones that jump the light so they don't need to wait for oncoming traffic (see that waaay too many times a day too) - Not the ones with a left turn light.

BTW, I just read somewhere (may have been another thread on this board) that there are some people out there that have James Bond like flippy license plates to foil those cameras.