[Guest]

What make one a hypermiler?

 

[Billy]

Hi Mark............a hypermiler is one who strives for maximum fuel economy, and achieves 20% above EPA mileage estimates. For example, someone with a 5-speed Insight who gets, say, 82 or higher mpg (U.S.) may be considered a hypermiler.....

 

[b1shmu63]

Practice, cunning, attention to detail, and mods!

Winning against entropy.

The term seems to have originated here. Greenhybrid defines it as someone that exceeds EPA, but Insighters tend to have a tougher yardstick as many exceed EPA.

Billy is hypermiler royalty, so I consider his definition as law.

 

[Guest]

So what does 77 UK LMPG & rising make me

 

[b1shmu63]

A rising star?

That works out to about 64 miles to the US gallon. If your mileage is still rising that's a good sign. Mine rose rapidly the first year peaking around 74. Winter came and did me in. I seem to have maxed out at 72. Never mind I'm designing some cool mods that should get the average rising again.

Mileage depends a lot on trip length, road and weather conditions too. Those with extreme mileage tend to travel long straght distances non stop.

 

[Guest]

MMM, lots of 70-75mph motorway, 25mile each way. Fitted with sticky Dunlop tyres too. :evil:

 

[dan]

I believe that I first used the word “hypermilager” here to describe xcel and others, although I had no firm definition of it. I am flattered that it has been shortened to a more pronounceable form and has come into common usage. I still have no definition for it. If someone wants to define it as 20% greater than EPA that is fine with me, although the original intent was something more similar to what Kip was describing.

 

[nemystic]

Dan,

I hope I live long enough to see your shortened colloquialism find its way into the dictionary.

By Billy's definition, many of us mere mortals should perhaps be more accurately categorized as "supermilers".

By my calculation, it will be several years before my LTM will reach the "hyper" category.

 

[Mike Dabrowski 2000]

Some other possible discriptions.

Hypermiler:
One that finds it a worthwhile persuit to use the time normally spent day dreaming or worring while driving their car to instead focus on getting the best MPG for the situation.
The true hypermiler is constantly focusing on refining the driving techniques with feedback from the instant MPG bargraph.
It has nothing to do with EPA, as EPA does not represent anyone's commute, it is more of a mindset to an actual achieved number or percent.
Short definition:
Hypermiler : One who becomes one with the driving experience to achieve the maximum fuel efficiency under the present conditions.
Zen and the art of Hypermileage
A book waiting to be written
8)

 

[Guest]

Is teh economy guage on the Insight re calibrated for the UK market, I get the feeling it's not.

I'll verify this when I next fill up, miles driven divided by mpg for tank = fuel used in gallons.

 

[Guest]

Well guys, since my trip to work has gone from 5miles each way, up to 25 miles each way, as expected the fuel economy has increased massively.

Each trip is averaging 90-95mpg, LMG is up to 86.3.

Cosidering this is on 185/60/14 Dunlops, sitting at 65-70mph cruising & I have no MIMA, FAS & haven't yet got round to them warm air air mod I am pretty happy.

Hoping that by the UK Insight day I may have squeezed it up to 90LMG, may have to add warm air mod & modify cruising speeds a bit though.

 

[Chris G]

I consider myself a hypermiler. I have achieved 76.3 LMPG over a 2+ year/70,000 mile span. Considering that I live in a particularly cold and hilly area of New England, that is pretty good. I am attentive to my driving habits, and pay close attention to the instrumentation feedback to finetune my driving techniques. In other words, I let the car teach me how to drive it. I think that hypermiler categorization is less about absolute numbers than it is a general driving philosophy.

 

[lakedude]

Some call it hypermiling if you beat EPA figures by a certain percentage. I call it hypermiling when I'm trying to get good mileage in spite of the results. Sometimes rain, cold, or snow conspire to lower mileage in spite of any effort made to achieve hypermile class results. I still call that hypermiling even if the resulting mileage is not that great.

My Vette will beat EPA doing 70mph with the AC on. I do not call that hypermiling even though the numbers are in the hypermile range.

It is about the effort not the results.

 

[Guest]

Hi Dan:

___I saw a similar term to hypermiler used at C&D back in 02 IIRC but it was for something completely different? I started using the term in late 03/early 04 to describe beating the EPA combined. Valedictorian Hypermiler’s beat the EPA highway by 20%, Expert - 25% above EPA combined, and Elite - 50% above EPA combined.

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes – CleanMPG.com

 

[Fenrir]

I agree that it is about the effort, not the numbers. An "Expert" hypermiler driving an ideal route in ideal conditions will probably get better mileage than an "Elite" hypermiler following a more challenging route.

I personally try to avoid attaching labels to myself or others.

 

[JimmyHiggins]

Of course, if you live close to work, being a hyper-miler is rather difficult. I don't get the benefit of driving to work each day on a highway averaging 70 to 90 mpg. I drive up a big hill that is about 20% of my commute (1 mile of a 5 mile drive). And of course, traffic lights don't help either. Regardless, I do have a 100.3 mpg drive for a 30+ mile drive and made it from Akron, OH to Plymouth, MA on a single tank of gas, stopping only once... doing that trip four times. But the local commuting doesn't allow me to keep a higher average. I'm quite happy with the results, though.

 

[Insightful Trekker]

There will be an unfair inequity in any "number" based definition. Differences of traffic, terrain, climate and commute distances have a major impact on ultimately attainable MPG.

Any Insighter interested in pursuing the "goal" will know from practice what their locally available ultimate MPG is. And we'll "know" privately whether that qualifies as a "hyper" MPG driver, or not.

Unfortunately this eliminates any "real" group recognition (unless you have participated in something like Tour del Sol, then that could make you a certified hyper miler ) since any individual could claim the title for any MPG number. But if we as Insighter's were interested in merely running with the pack we'd be driving something different.

Hyper MPG'rs, we know who we are.

 

[Mike Dabrowski 2000]

So it would seem that there are several types of hypermiler.
Hard core:
LMPG is way over EPA, and each trip is maximized to keep the LMPG as high as possible, will avoid driving the car when max MPG will not be possible.
Moderate:
LMPG is not considered. Knows how to maximize the MPG for individual trips or tanks, and usually will favor MPG maximizing techniques.
Occasional:
Will occasionally drive for maximum MPG, but tends to drive with the flow to show that the car is not a wimp.
Others??

 

[chrs]

Of course, if you live close to work, being a hyper-miler is rather difficult.

Unless you live close enough to work to walk or bike, or have good transit. That's my situation, and as result, my Insight, Effie, is spoiled to the point where she doesn't like to come out of the garage at all unless I promise her a good reasonably long hypermiling run, but I also make her do ordinary driving like hauling recycling, or rushing to an airport or meeting when I haven't allowed enough time for her to show what she can really do.

One trip that is getting to be a regular thing for me is going over the Green Mountains from New Hampshire to the Albany NY area, since I've been doing some work with a company located there, and have also gone to Tour de Sol there twice now. It's about 150 miles, and it's a challenging hypermiling route, since it's over the mountains and then into an urban area. If I'm not overly time pressured and the weather's reasonable I usually end up in the low 90s, but I've gotten in the mid 70s a couple of times due to time pressure, bad weather, poor route choices, or all of the above. But yesterday driving out I was able to leave early in the morning to allow plenty of time, and the weather was clear, though it started out chilly when I left. I got 98 mpg, but the trip back today was even better: I left in the early afternoon, and the car had been sitting in the sun warming up, so it had less warming up to do. The weather and traffic cooperated, and I've got a good route figured out, avoiding the worst grades and often on roads with very little traffic. Door to door, 159.8 miles, 106.6 mpg. That's hypermiling (and my best-ever door-to-door over 25 miles), but offset by some ordinary driving, my LMPG is 85. (That's since I've owned Effie--her previous driver had a slightly portly foot, and had 55 LMPG. I reset the LMPG when I got her.)

I agree that the definition is in the spirit of it, rather than a particular number. The first time I got 70 mpg on a trip, I was hypermiling. I was delighted, Effie was happy to be finally spreading her wings, and we both became addicted.

Charlie

 

[JimmyHiggins]

Unless you live close enough to work to walk or bike, or have good transit.

Actually, for the first few days, while my Insight was in the dealership as the workers played operation on it (remove the whacky commutation sensor), I was cycling to the office. The funny thing was that it took about 5 to 6 minutes longer to get to the office on bike than car. Not that big of a difference. Of course, going up that big hill, climbing out of the valley is a bit rough, though not as bad as going down it with all that traffic... they really need a bike lane on that road.

Unfortunately, I can't get enough places on the bike, as I need to drive a bit sometimes for work. I can't haul up to Cleveland and then bike back the same day... atleast not on a work day, and I'd need a mountain bike to bike the Towpath trail to Cleveland. And of course, I'd dress a bunch more casual if I biked. Now only if my office had a shower!

Until then, I'll live with my mileage. I might see an increase once the car comes back to me all better and stuff. I miss drafting tractor trailers.