How to get better gas mileage from your car

With gas prices at never-before-seen levels and no sign of slowing down anytime soon, it seems time for some tips for saving gas while driving.

The first technique is known as “hypermiling.” There are 2 basic components to hypermiling: momentum conservation and low fuel economy.

Let’s address these individually.

Moment conservation. To achieve this, you should aim for the smoothest ride possible, only hitting the brakes when necessary. Accelerate to a stop at traffic lights or signals, putting it in neutral along the way. Whenever you have some speed, try to maintain it for as long as possible without stopping. It’s all about using the fuel you’ve already burned for as long as you can. Don’t hit the accelerator anymore until you have to hit the brakes.

Low rate of fuel consumption. This has to do with the rpm. Most of you have probably noticed that keeping your RPMs low burns less fuel – it’s a basic mechanic. One of the keys to doing this is to accelerate slowly. Acceleration is a particularly fuel-intensive time: not only are the rpms likely to be higher, but the percentage of fuel burned is also lower. Has everyone seen the thick clouds of black soot when a diesel rig starts up? That’s unburned fuel, and your car does the same thing, though not as noticeably. So accelerate slowly and evenly for best efficiency.

Another way to keep fuel low is to simply not throttle. The key to realize here is that while speed is linear, resistance is exponential. That means that while 120 km/h is only 20% faster than 100 km/h, the resistance at 120 km/h is much greater than a 20% increase in resistance at 100 km/h. So the faster you go, the higher your fuel burn rate due to drag.

And hey, it’s also safer to drive slowly.

The final advice is to simply plan your excursions. When gas was cheap, it was nothing to go to the store to pick up something you forgot to buy, and over time, most people developed the habit of not planning. It didn’t make sense, because if you forgot something, it wasn’t a big deal to go looking for it. But all those little trips add up, so these days you’d better write down your wanderings and shopping needs to avoid extra trips.

These tips will help you save gas and lower your fuel costs if you apply them.