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The time factor
I have to disagree with the comment that time doesn't factor into your MPG when traveling. I think about this one quite a bit and have also wondered at what point am I going too fast, or too slow to offset the differences in my speed compared to others on the road. Where this comes into play is when I am traveling down the interstate on longer trips. I see the same cars and trucks pass me 2 and 3 times before they eventually manage to either break free from my evil MPG conserving ways or they have pulled off for the day or have arrived at their destinations.
I do believe that the old rule of thumb that you hear over the road truck drivers say is... "You have to keep the drivers door shut if your gonna make any money!" The essence of that statement is we are not stopping all the time... Keep on moving until you "need" fuel to minimize the number of stops. I try not to stop unless I "need" gas. The duration of time will depend on which vehicle I am driving and how far I can go on a tank of gas. Now in my Insight I can go farther than my bladder will allow, so I pick a reasonable halfway or some distance that I know I can hold out for a break. Next thing to figure in is how fast do you "need" to go and what is your greatest return on your fuel economy dollar... In other words if you car gets decent economy up to about 62 mph then push it to that point. If you need to go faster then start looking for a "ride". I will lay back and wait for a big rig to pass me going between 65 and 68 mph and then I will suck up in his wake and ride there as long as I can.
If you pay attention to the cars that pass you on the way you will start to see a pattern normally. You will see the same cars and trucks go flying by you at break neck speeds... Somewhere down the road due to need for gas or bladder breaks they stop, then they will go flying past you again. It is a good rule of thumb to basically look at how far could you go if you were driving with no help(no drafting buddy) at the posted speed limit or 5 or 10 mph above the posted limit like most others are driving. Look at how many more times you would have to stop. Figure anywhere from 15-20 minutes lost at each stop. It is a lot like watching people pass you in town only to come pulling up to them at the next light, and the next, and possibly even one more. They are in a hurry, but getting nowhere fast...
So how fast can you go before your going too fast? Only you will know based on how your vehicle performs and the fuel economy it gets at any particular speed and how far you have to go. Can you go too slow? Well if your goal is to roughly get where your going in roughly the same amount of time as if you were driving like everyone else then your going to have to push it along at a faster pace, but still not compromise too much in fuel economy. If you slow down for maximum fuel economy you will just have to accept your maximizing fuel economy and not focusing on the time it takes. I try to blend the two by getting some drafting in there to pick up my speeds and still get amazing fuel economy. So there is more than one way to skin a cat as they say...
You will have to do some math and figure out the number of stops and the average speeds to determine where to try and meet in the middle if that is your goal. It is an amazing feeling though when you manage to pull of both an amazing fuel economy run and still make good time... I made a run from Colorado Springs to Omaha NE and stayed glued to the back of big rigs the whole way... They were moving along pretty quickly and I managed to pull off a 89+ mpg run in my Insight. It was completely awesome... That doesn't happen often for me to have things line up like that and manage to keep a good average speed. It was sweet! So it is time to break out the maps, and do some calculations if you want to figure out the best speeds in return for the best time and economy. Good luck!
Longsnowsm
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