Change of Habit: Idle as Least as Possible

[GasSavers_fuelmiser]

1. Find the First Available Parking Spot. Parking 50 yards closer by circling the lot numerous times really doesnt make sense. We can all use the exercise!

2. I park my car on the street when I get home. I coast with my engine off with perfect timing up until it's final parking location. No more driveway parking since I would have to keep my engine on to turn into the driveway and park the car with greater precision.

3. No More Fast Food Drive Thrus.

4. I drive the car immediately upon turning on the car. I no longer warm up the car. I no longer cool the car with the aircondition or adjust windows during idle. I make sure my seatbelt is fastened before turning on the car. I make sure my portable GPS and Scan Gauge are connected before turning on the car. I make sure my sunglasses are on before turning on the car.

All these things are a little anal but this is the only message board that would understand where im coming from!

[Jim Dunlop]

Also, when you glide to a stop sign, don't slam on the brakes too early before reaching it. Pop the car out of gear at 65 MPH (for a country highway) and glide that thing right up until the stop sign, then slam on the brakes. The idea is to waste as little time idling as possible -- that's why it's better to glide at a fast speed than a slow speed.

[Rick Rae]

Good observations, guys; thanks for sharing. May a new and inexperienced hypermiler offer some additional thoughts?

Originally Posted by fuelmiser

1. Find the First Available Parking Spot.

... but not necessarily the first available parking spot.

What you said is bang-on for people who circle or idle for five minutes just so they can park next to the mall entrance. But don't overlook opportunities! Scan the lot as you approach and keep your eyes open; you may find a "pull through" you don't have to back into or out of. Or you may be able to park on a beneficial incline, and that potential energy will help you get rolling again.

3. No More Fast Food Drive Thrus.

Somewhere I read an enormous figure for the amount of gas and pollution that would be saved if drive-throughs were outlawed.

All these things are a little anal but this is the only message board that would understand where im coming from!

Anal-retentives likely make the best hypermilers.

Originally Posted by Jim Dunlop

Also, when you glide to a stop sign, don't slam on the brakes too early before reaching it. Pop the car out of gear at 65 MPH (for a country highway)...

You'll get better gas mileage at a lower speed.

... glide that thing right up until the stop sign, then slam on the brakes. The idea is to waste as little time idling as possible -- that's why it's better to glide at a fast speed than a slow speed.

... but not universally.

Like several other aspects of hypermiling, this one has a "sweet spot." If you barrel up to a stop sign at 65 and slam on the brakes (not what you were suggesting) you do minimize idle time, but you also throw away a huge amount of kinetic energy that you paid for one way or another. If you go to the other extreme and take your foot off the gas a few miles early so you crawl up to the stop sign at idle (again, not what you suggested), you don't scrub off any speed wastefully, but you spend a lot of time effectively at idle. (Example: If your idle consumption is 0.3GPH and you're rolling at 1MPH, you're getting about 3MPG! On the other hand, if you're rolling at 10MPH, that's 33MPG, which is approaching respectable.)

Somewhere between those two extremes is the most efficient point. My gut feeling is that it's closer to the long-coast end. It'd be nice to see someone run some numbers or gather some empirical data on this.

When it's a traffic light instead of a stop sign, things get trickier. I've been coasting in to reds hoping they'd turn, but a lot of times I wind up having to stop at the light... just in time for it to turn green again. Grrr.

It's a bit of a gamble, but as I begin to learn the timing on some of the lights on my commute, I've tried slowing early (engine braking a little before starting my neutral coast). Sometimes spending a little more time coasting at a slower speed means the light goes green before I get there, and I don't have to dump all that kinetic energy by stopping. The net result is that a slower coast actually results in higher net fuel efficiency.

It's a fun game, ain't it?

Rick

[GeekGuyAndy]

The lights are when you use the half-way method. As you get closer, slow down, but always try to keep the tiniest bit of speed since overcoming a full stop will take a lot more energy than overcoming 2mph.

[Hockey4mnhs]

around be i slow down to about 5 to 10 mph and coast slowly up to the stop sighn if there is no on coming then i cost on threw. there are 500 people in the town and we dont have cop so i think im good on this one. i dont do this in the omaha (were i comute to) as much unless im in a neighborhood of one of my friends.

[slurp812]

Originally Posted by fuelmiser

1. Find the First Available Parking Spot. Parking 50 yards closer by circling the lot numerous times really doesnt make sense. We can all use the exercise!

2. I park my car on the street when I get home. I coast with my engine off with perfect timing up until it's final parking location. No more driveway parking since I would have to keep my engine on to turn into the driveway and park the car with greater precision.

3. No More Fast Food Drive Thrus.

4. I drive the car immediately upon turning on the car. I no longer warm up the car. I no longer cool the car with the aircondition or adjust windows during idle. I make sure my seatbelt is fastened before turning on the car. I make sure my portable GPS and Scan Gauge are connected before turning on the car. I make sure my sunglasses are on before turning on the car.

All these things are a little anal but this is the only message board that would understand where im coming from!

I do stuff like that too! I sometimes look around, if I am near a traffic light or busy road to time my exit for no stops. So it really helps to park near the exit/entrance of a parking lot. So yea, I concur!