I just got back from a 1020km work related trip to a few cities. When I filled up, I had 1666km (1041mi) on the odo
Here are the details on my first kilotank:
The last fill-up was in the mountains, on a hiking trip with some friends. Distance back home: 550km with 4 people and a bunch of stuff in the trunk, but I still averaged 3.7 l/100km (63.5mpg).
Next were two trips to the city center. The first was midday (traffic), ~40km. The second was to a party, after which we drove some friends home, another ~50km.
I was hoping that I'd be able to do the whole upcoming 1000km worktrip on the rest of the tank, but I'd really have to push it, my best tanks so far were ~1400km, and I already had 650km on this one. But I mapped my route to minimize distance and speed, either avoiding traffic, or going where traffic can pass me. I folded my passenger mirror, pumped up the tires, and took out the rear seats, but I had 150kg of materials I needed for the trip.
I drove slowish, below the speed limit (which is an anomoly here). After the first leg of my trip my fc was 3.6l/100km (65mpg), but I noticed that my average speed is 60km/h, which is
greater than when I drive at the speed limit with people in the car, getting 3.8-4.2l/100km (56-62mpg). But that wasn't enough for me, on the next legs I took hypermiling to the extreme: I drove even slower (so the average speed finally decreased) since I was in no hurry, spending most of the time in the 50-60km/h range, and often dropping to 40km/h. I rarely exceeded 80km/h, only if someone couldn't pass me. I lost some fuel with that, and with frequent stops on the shoulder to allow passing. I also lost some fuel turning around when my GPS would send me onto dirt roads or into a field with no road
.
I was a leader with many followers. Coasting, P&G and enginebraking - all the time, sprinkled with about 10km of EOC. The second leg of the trip got me 3.3l/100km (71mpg) over 250km, the third 3.1l/100km (76mpg) over 120km.
The longest, and toughest, drive was the return home - first in rush hour traffic, in hilly towns were I got lost (the GPS sent me to a point 3.5km away from where I should be, so I wasted 7km in traffic jams), then in a downpour and thunderstorm, then on a highway with more trucks than cars (very heavy traffic, almost bumper-to-bumper @ 80km/h
), then I brake-checked a tailgating tractor-trailer, causing him to panic and almost swerve, then another T-storm in heavy high speed traffic after dark, then another. I got home at midnight, after 425km and 8 hours of driving, and still managed 3.3l/100km (71mpg), with the additional weight of two extra seats which I picked up that day.
On the way back the car's computer was showing that I should just make it home with a few km to spare, but since my gas station is another 15km away, I wanted to make sure I'll be able to get there the next time get in the car, so I stopped to buy 1 liter of fuel. I told the gas station clerk that it's not a joke, but he said he's had people buy even less. About 20km from home I still had 75km of range, but decided to fill up at a different station than my usual, just for piece of mind. I would have made it back home even without that 1 liter of fuel, but who knows what kind of traffic will be between me and my gas station when I finally get around to filling up. So I could have pushed it to 1700km. After filling up, the computer said that at the rate I've been driving, I could go 2000km on 1 tank
If I get another chance (not in the nearest future), then I'll try...
I'm sure that my aeromods helped with my kilotank, but the main factor at play here was hypermiling. For both sincerely thank the EcoModder crowd
Also, this would not have been possible if I hadn't been
driving alone.
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