Hydrocarbon Miser - How Good of a Driver are YOU?

No news from the road this time but here are a few related news items I thought you might enjoy.



Gas too cheap: OPEC approves largest output cut ever
by Jonathon Ramsey on Dec 17th 2008 at 4:30PM


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You didn't really think OPEC was going to pack up its supercar fleet and shut down the holiday mansions while $1.55 gasoline -- and that's in California -- ruled the day, did you? Oh no. OPEC hasn't merely cut production, it gutted production by the never-before-seen amount of 2.2 million barrels per day. As for the market, surprised as it might have been, fazed it wasn't: oil sank to $40.20/barrel immediately after Khelil's announcement. Those are 2004 prices, which means – as far as oil's concerned – we're living Back to the Future.

[Source: MSNBC via Truckblog, photo by XcBiker | CC 2.0]

The short-term issue is that OPEC no longer enjoys the cohesion it had with non-OPEC members like Russia. Russia is the second largest oil producer behind Saudi Arabia, and in spite of the kingdom's hope that Russia would announce significant cuts, the communist power didn't. Russia said it would cut production by 600,000 barrels, but that reduction already happened in November. What does all this mean? It means that without any definitive statements on oil production, no one knows how low the price of a barrel is going to go.

The long-term issue is that investors still believe demand for energy is going to drop due to global economic conditions. Already, OPEC says that "crude volumes entering the market remain well in excess of actual demand," and with everyone proclaiming that things will get worse before they get better, that means a lot of oil sitting around... not making money. Clearly, that's not the future OPEC wants, adding the intriguing warning that "if unchecked, prices could fall to levels which would place in jeopardy the investments required to guarantee adequate energy supplies in the medium to long term." So there.


Source: AutoBlog





German gets Porsche 911 Carrera up to 35.1 mpg
by Jeremy Korzeniewski on Dec 17th 2008 at 1:32PM


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Click above for image gallery of Porsche's 35-mpg trip

Proving once again that the way you drive is just as important as what you drive, ex-racer and German TV presenter Klaus Niedzwiedz has managed to average just over 35 miles per gallon (U.S.) in a brand-spanking new Porsche 911 Carrera. The route taken covered 400 miles of urban streets, country roads and a large chunk of Germany's famous autobahn. Niedzwiedz wasn't holding up traffic either, averaging 52 miles per hour for the trip and keeping his engine speeds between 1,800 and 2,000 RPM. So, while the latest 911 with its 345 horsepower, direct-injected flat-six powerplant and seven-speed PDK gearbox is an excellent performance machine, it's also an economy car. Sort of. Fine, it's not an economy car at all, but its EPA fuel mileage rating of 19 city and 27 highway is mighty impressive and proves that modern sportscars, including Chevy's latest Corvette, which is also capable of extremely miserly fuel consumption, are better than their predecessors in every meaningful way.


Source: AutoBlog

Howdy Soupers,

It has been an interesting couple of weeks. I traveled across a slick and snow pass twice in the past couple weeks and felt the effect on my fuel economy. I wish I had stopped into cleanmpg.com to check if they had any winter driving guides. I happened to do that in preparation for this post. Here are the numbers for my trip. I have also included my numbers for pizza delivery this past week too which was on snowy slick roads.

• 1996 Toyota Camry LE
• 21/27 (24)
• Trip 27 MPG/Pizza 22 MPG
• 112.5%/1-4.7%
• Used all the regular techniques but driving in snow creates a lot of rolling resistance. Any additional resistance to running your vehicle reduces your fuel economy.

Here's an article directed at hybrid owners for winter driving. However, many of these principles apply to most cars.


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A Hybrid Owner’s winter survival guide [cleanmpg]

Thing is jeremy, I get no resistance at all when it snows. As I don't drive when it snows...

Never learned because we never have snow. And on the few occasions we do have snow, they just shut down the city and I don't have to drive.

Works out fairly well.

Just seems like it'd be scary, driving in snow.

Getting around 44mpg(Imperial) in my mum's Prius at the moment and I have a heavy foot.


EDIT: Removed double post. Jeremy221



This post has been edited by Jeremy221: Dec 30 2008, 10:12 PM

arrgh, I think you might want to relax a touch. The estimated EPA (US) rating for the Prius is 55 MPG (Imperial). Driving a vehicle like a Prius is great for learning about how you drive. The in car fuel economy screen will tell you your instantaneous fuel economy. This will allow you to vary what you are doing and improve your results.

I wish I had that much information some times but my current set up makes me think more long term, though there are probably many quirks that need worked out in my driving to pull in really good numbers. I hope you're having a lot of fun.

I know but there are so many idiots here you just have to compete don't you?

Hi guys,

Not too much going on but I am going to show my Saturday pizza delivery numbers. Honestly though, my numbers recently haven't been good at all. Factor in driving in the snow and with a bag over a window that doesn't want to close have helped reduce fuel economy. Another thing that has happened in the past few weeks has been the addition of studded tires to the mix means potentially lower fuel economy. The reason that snow tires or studded tires reduce your fuel economy is because they have a higher rolling resistance. That means it takes more energy to accelerate and harder to glide. Practically, this means that you need more power from the engine to get up to speed, you lose speed while gliding more quickly, and when coasting down a hill, you don't pick up as much speed. One way to contradict these things is to raise the pressure of your tires. I did this by raising my tires up to 50 PSI from the base 35 PSI listed on the tires. One of the things I noticed after raising the pressure was that the play in my steering wheel was all but gone. What I found was that I was able to get a fuel economy to that with standard tires.

• 1996 Toyota Camry LE
• 21/27 MPG (24 MPG)
• 28.76 MPG
• 119.8%
• Raised tire pressure to 50 PSI

This post has been edited by Jeremy221: Jan 20 2009, 05:50 AM

You know Jezza I do keep on thinking that I must post my results here, but the mileage I do is just so low, since
the 29th December I have only driven my car 24 miles!!

Wow, lenny, that would explain your not posting here. Your involvement in Motoring is certainly very much appreciated.


Thanks for everything mate.

Street smart







By Phil Raby


As an automotive writer, I get to test drive lots of hot new cars. But once my test drives are over, I slide back behind the wheel of a decidedly unfashionable, gas-sucking minivan. As fuel prices rocketed this past year, I found myself paying outlandish amounts to fill up my 2004 Chevy Venture and wondering what I could do to numb the pain.

Buying a hybrid was out of my budget and downsizing to a smaller vehicle just wasn’t practical for me. Then I heard about something called hypermiling, the brainchild of Wayne Gerdes, an Illinois driver who has won numerous contests aimed at squeezing the maximum number of kilometres out of a tank of gas. He claimed to have doubled his everyday fuel economy simply by altering his driving habits. His boast sounded implausible, but as fuel prices headed higher this summer, anything seemed worth a try. So I decided to park my skepticism and give hypermiling a go.

Boiled down to its essence, hypermiling is all about taking it easy on the gas pedal, anticipating the traffic ahead and keeping your vehicle well maintained. To put hypermiling to the test, I needed an accurate gauge of how much fuel my minivan was using, so I purchased a fuel economy meter called a ScanGauge ($190 from www.scangaugecanada.com). This little digital device plugs under the dashboard and gives you an instant read on how much gas you’re guzzling.

Chances are that you’re using more than you think. The official mileage for my van is 12 litres of gas for every 100 km traveled in the city and 7.8 litres per 100 km on the highway, but those are government figures obtained in ideal conditions. Under real-world driving, most vehicles use at least 10% more fuel than the official rating. I discovered that my van was no different, logging an average of 13.4 L/100 km in the city and 8.5 L/100 km on the highway.

Having read lots about Gerdes, I knew that my first step toward hypermiling was to get my vehicle in tip-top shape, so it was off to the garage for an oil change with synthetic oil, a new air filter and proper inflation of the tires. Synthetic oil is more expensive than regular oil, but it’s great at reducing friction in the engine, which can improve fuel economy slightly. A clogged air filter and underinflated tires can also hurt the efficiency of your vehicle.

Once I had my van tuned to its rather limited mechanical peak, it was out the door — and straight into the slow lane. Hypermiling is all about taking your time. I stayed under the speed limit and crept away from stop signs and red lights. Braking heavily was a no-no. Instead, I watched upcoming traffic lights. If I sensed that a red light was coming, I eased off the accelerator and coasted to the light.

The net effect of all this was to turn me into my grandmother. As noble as my intentions might be, I discovered that other motorists didn’t necessarily applaud them. I was never honked at or flipped off, but the impatient glares from rushed drivers could have burned a hole in my neck — and I wasn’t pushing hypermiling to its maximum.

Serious hypermilers shut off their engines at red lights to save fuel. Contrary to popular belief, starting up your engine consumes only the equivalent of about seven seconds worth of gas at idle, so turning off your car at any stop longer than seven seconds saves you money. I decided not to make a habit of this, because I worried about the time required to start my car back up (what would happen if an emergency vehicle suddenly appeared behind me?) and because a mechanic has warned me that too much starting and stopping could wear on my starter, battery and alternator. As a compromise, I shut off my engine at lengthy red lights that I had just missed, but for the most part kept my van running.

So what was the impact of my new driving habits? Even with limited application of the full stop technique, the savings surprised me. In the city, I routinely averaged 9.2 L/100 km, cutting my fuel consumption by nearly a third. Assuming those results are typical and you’re mostly a city driver who spends an average of $200 a month at the gas station, hypermiling could save you $768 a year.Out on the highway, the results were less dramatic, but I still managed to shave about 9% off my fuel bill without doing much at all. Keeping a steady pace of 90 km/h in the right-hand lane was the key, since driving at or above the maximum speed limit increases wind resistance and engine friction.

I was impressed. Hypermiling resulted in serious savings without a lot of effort. In my case, it was equivalent to getting the mileage of a mid-sized car while driving a much larger minivan. For sports car enthusiasts or anyone who runs late, the idea of tootling around town in the slow lane can be a bit discouraging. But I came away convinced that hypermiling is worth the effort. So if you’re driving through Toronto and see someone driving slowly, please don’t honk — it could be me.


Source: Canadian Business







The Politics of Vroom



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By JAKE MOONEY
Published: January 16, 2009


THE clubhouse of the Dirty Ryderz, a Brooklyn-based motorcycle club with 63 local members (plus 27 in Virginia), is in a featureless brick building in East Flatbush with a security gate out front and tall, colorful trophies lying flat along a wall in the basement. Winter weather is not motorcycle weather, so no cycles were to be seen outside last week. But on Wednesday evening, the clubhouse buzzed with activity.

It was nearing time for a meeting of the Concerned Citizens for Motorcycle Safety, an umbrella organization for several local clubs that has had its hands full lately fighting a proposed city law aimed at controlling cycles’ noise. In particular, members were preparing for a third City Council hearing on the bill, to be held in the next few weeks, and for the international motorcycle show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center this weekend.

The bill, which was the subject of two Council committee hearings late last year but was delayed for further study after motorcyclists and their supporters raised objections, is intended to curb common modifications to the exhaust pipes that make cycles noisier.

•

On new motorcycles, exhaust pipes bear a stamp from the manufacturer certifying that they meet state and federal laws limiting noise to 80 decibels, comparable to the level of a vacuum cleaner or an alarm clock. The law, as proposed, would give police the power to ticket the drivers of cycles that are missing the factory stamp — presumably cycles with excessively noisy or improperly modified pipes.

The bill’s main sponsor, Councilman Alan Gerson, who represents Lower Manhattan, said the police would not have to chase noisy motorcycles but could simply look for the stamp on a parked cycle.

“We’re not talking about street noise,” said Mr. Gerson, noting that motorcycle noise was a leading complaint from residents of his district. “We’re talking about noise that reaches into apartments, bedrooms, living rooms, places where people live. It’s so loud it’s like a physical assault. It’s jarring.”

Especially, he said, in warm weather.

“Elsewhere in the world, the birds come back and start chirping,” Mr. Gerson said. “And in these neighborhoods, the motorcycles come back and drive everyone crazy.”

In the East Flatbush clubhouse, though, bikers complained that they were being misunderstood. Among the benefits of a loud exhaust system, they said, is that it alerts drivers, many with their radios on in soundproof cars, to a motorcycle’s presence.

“Every person that rides a bike can give you several stories of how that loud pipe saved them from potentially being killed,” said Jermaul Holloman, the Dirty Ryderz’s round-faced, large-bellied president, who rides under the nickname Naughty. “They don’t respect the dangers that we go through. Anyone that says loud pipes don’t save lives has never rode a bike.”

(In response, Mr. Gerson said that the noise from a legal, unmodified exhaust system was enough to announce that a motorcycle is nearby.)

Ellen Patterson, a member of the concerned citizens’ group who was with Mr. Holloman this day, said the organization hopes to one day get federal decibel limits raised. In the meantime, she said, the bikers, who have a powerful ally in Councilman Leroy Comrie of Southeast Queens, plan to turn out in force to testify at the next Council hearing. Their worry, Ms. Patterson said, is that under the law, police would punish riders whose legal exhaust pipes have stamps that are hard to see.

•

If the stamp is hidden, as it often is, she said, “do you really think that they’re going to get on the ground to try to see it? No, he’s going to ticket you.”

For riders like Derick Coard, a city bus driver who attended the meeting, that is a scary prospect, especially because multiple citations could lead to a biker’s losing his cycle. A nice Japanese sport bike can cost $10,000, he said, and a Harley-Davidson several times that.

There is, of course, another reason some people have loud motorcycles: the adolescent joy in producing a deafening noise and bothering the neighbors. That, Mr. Coard emphasized, is not what he is defending.

“We sponsor a Little League team, for God’s sakes,” he said. “How rogue can you be? There’s corrections officers in my club; there’s police in my club; there’s nurses. Why should the few have to suffer for those that are living outside the law?”
More Articles in New York Region »A version of this article appeared in print on January 18, 2009, on page CY1 of the New York edition.


Source: NY Times

I'm going to un-pin this thread as I have stopped actively seeking to develop my hypermiling technique. I encourage everyone to try to work these techniques into their driving as the price of fuel will only go up, whether due to price increase or an effective decrease in the value of your income.

Here are my numbers:

• 1996 Toyota Camry LE
• 21/27 (24) MPG
• 28.75 MPG
• 119.8%
• Higher tire pressure and closing the window that was stuch open. The latter helped reduce the drag on the car. Roads were also clear, which meant that there was less rolling resistance.

-2007 Honda VTR 250
-3.7L/100km or 63.57 MPG
-3L/100km or 76 odd MPG (this was highway driving, constant speed over 350kms, made 2 stops)
- 81%
- drive was one long trip (350kms) with only 2 stops, used 97 octane unleaded. Yes its a motorbike so i have rather sore legs afterwards.
around town where i live i reakon i probably get closer to the 3.7L per hundred since the roads are curvier and i fang her along more...


and just a note about the motorcycle article, motorbikes are not seen as easy as other cars, the fact that you can hear a harley coming from hundreds of meters away makes riding that little bit safer.
My police instructor here in aus said that the number of accidents on smaller 250cc motorbikes (which make next to no noise) compared to those of a higher engine capacity that can be nearly defening is huge. Most likely because they cannot be heard. I know if there is a big bike coming when im driving my car because i can hear it, sometimes ive had smaller bikes pull up beside me and if it wasnt for checking my blind spot i wouldnt have known they were there.

This post has been edited by 02keilj: Feb 5 2009, 09:21 AM

Nice work 02keilj.

I think you need to reverse the calculation. You used 80% of the fuel expected but achieved 125% of of the fuel economy.


I still track my numbers and did a similar to the previous week's numbers at 28.38 MPG or 118% with pizza delivery on this past Saturday.

Did about 30 MPG on my last weeks drive though I had my car in the shop most of the time to replace the timing belt. That's about 125%, which is pretty cool.

Jeremy221
i know about the calculation, i actually did better than what the factory specs were if thats what you were wondering, correct my if im wrong

ANOTHER GOOD SUGGESTION ,IF YOU ARE DRIVING ANY TYPE OF PICK-UP TRUCK, FOR LONG DISTANCE OR HI-WAY DRIVING IS TO DROP THE TAIL GATE FOR LESS WIND RESISTANCE THUS RESULTING IN BETTER FUEL ECONOMY

Mythbusters tackled that one a while ago... dropping your tailgate actually decreases fuel economy because it destroys the designed-in air flow over the truck.... with the tailgate up, a vortex is created over the load bay, which passes oncoming air over it, making the truck more aerodynamic.

Apparently.

Correct. The only way to make your pickup more aerodynamic is a tonneau cover over the box. All those nets or tailgate removal tricks are bollocks.