Hi all!
I am new to the hypermiling and eco-modding scene. Found many useful tips on here already as a lurker, but now I have some more specific questions I hope to find answers to amongst this community.
A little background:
I'm an aerospace systems engineer. Have my BS in Aerospace Engineering. Have been tinkering on motorized vehicles since I was a kid. Learned to ride motorcycles as a teen. First car at 16, been messing with it ever since (yes, I still own it, many years later).
What got me into researching hypermiling and ecomodding is my commute. I live in a house built by my father-in-law. It's nice to not pay rent or a mortgage. There are a couple caveats, though. I live 33 miles from work. 5 miles of that is gravel. Obviously, maximizing fuel economy is a priority for me. Some of the tips and tricks work wonders... I already get 6 mpg better than the EPA "combined" number for our Subaru, and 1 mpg better than the "highway" value. The car is hardly broken in, with 4500 miles on it. I'm looking to eek a little more out of it, if possible.
The challenge is that only some of the hypermiling techniques seem to apply. Avoiding gravel/dirt is not an option, as it's five miles from the house to the paved highway. I can go around another way and only drive 1 mile on gravel... but it adds a 10-mile loop to my commute, so obviously that just burns more gas. The Subaru and the truck are automatics... because the Subaru H-6 and Limited packages only come as an auto, and the Duramax diesel is only paired with the Allison 1000 automatic. My project car is a stick shift, and I am a manual gearbox aficionado, but sadly many manufacturers do not cater to my vehicular needs. On the upside... for real fuel savings, I ride a Cagiva Gran Canyon that gets me roughly 41mpg on average. It's a big dual-sport powered by a Ducati 900 desmodue twin. I've ordered the chain and sprockets to change it to more highway-oriented gearing, so that should nudge it a little further up.
Another challenge is elevation. Home is 1700 feet above work, and there is a 2000 ft hill in between. No matter which way I go... the trip home involves climbing a steep mountain grade.
There are some pluses: There are some rolling hills on which I use P&G. It's rewarding to watch the average MPG indicator creep up when I'm driving through those sections. Also, I live east of work, which is great in The Columbia River Gorge... I typically have light headwinds in the morning, with a stiff tailwind in the afternoon/evening. I used to live west of work, and I was almost always opposite the favorable winds. The tailwinds are really nice on the high grasslands near home. I can scoot along at 50-60 with very little throttle. Traffic is also really light, so some of the more annoying hypermiling practices can be used without making other drivers mad.
Anyway... I look forward to learning here!
