Drafting behind bus on for fuel economy(video)

[basjoos]

Just aeromod your car to the point to where drafting produces little improvement on your mileage, then the whole drafting/safety discussion is rendered a non-issue. If all cars were shaped like mine, then drafting would be irrelevant to improving mileage.

[almightybmw]

oh noes! someone did something dangerous! let's all get upset and make disclaimers about drafting!


seriously. You people.

[Chuck.]

Originally Posted by almightybmw

oh noes! someone did something dangerous! let's all get upset and make disclaimers about drafting!


seriously. You people.

Don't be so dismissive - Google hypermiling and there is numerous accusations (unproven) about drafting, rolling thru stop signs....and hysteria that make hypermilers seem more dangerious than speeders, drunks, druggies, cell phones...and it's spoiled brats that are afraid if more people slow down they can't with impunity drive like Hell.

[theunchosen]

My only comment is I don't have the assets, the ability or the time to mod my car to make drafting irrelevant.

Even so alot of the time people here claim the idea is to also reduce the total amount of fuel used in total. Drafting off of people decreases their load even if only marginally.

a million times a tiny number is a much bigger number. seriously if it even improves the person in front of you .01% and everyone does it(Atlanta has something like 3 million cars so half of them?) (at just 12,000 miles a year avg of 23 mpg for 2 million users(just the lead car recieving boost from the rear car) Atlanta saves 104400 gallons of fuel. There are over 300 million people in the US and if 1-6 has a car and every other of those has someone following "helping" it saves 1,305,000 gallons of fuel over a year.

Its no small matter. If FE improves for either car a one hundredth of a percent and everyone does it(the stupid way not making smooth chains with safe distances between each, but in pairs) the US uses 1.3 million fewer gallons of fuel.

Now factor in the notion that the rear car is getting an FE improvement and. . .

[Chuck.]

Once again (in a calm voice) - hypermiling is not drafting. Hypermiling is tools like planning your route to drive accordingly, pulse and glide, drive without breaks, timing stoplights, maximize the use of gravity (including accelerating before approaching a hill).

My morning work commutes with the Insight started in the low 50's....recently I got 115mpg - without drafting.

Is doubling the mpg good enough? Even 30% is not bad by hypermiling.

[almightybmw]

Who has cable? Who has a cell phone with a data plan? Who has car payments for a car that requires hypermiling to get good FE? Cup of coffee you bought? buying lunch instead of bringing? I stop now, I sound like treehugger.com.

There are so many things one can cut from their lives--the luxuries--instead of trying to squeak that extra few percent for higher FE. I certainly am not dismissing hypermiling, it's a useful tool. Drafting is part of that. You get can get 115mpg from a 50mpg standard-that's great. Congradulations, seriously. I wish I could do that in either of my vehicles. But I can't, they don't have the equipment for me to get that. So I use all the tools available to me, including drafting. Drafting can increase the mileage on the truck by 2-3mpg. Unsafe? It might be, but for me it isn't. I know my limits and the limits of the vehicles I draft. I don't draft vehicles I think will be unsafe for me or those around me.

If the owner of the video knows his limits, it not impossible for him to hold a camera and draft a bus at a distance. Some people can't, I acknowledge that, but some can. Every drafting thread started on here has naysayers saying drafting is dangerous and bad. It's not. Stop generalizing. It's annoying.

[holypaulie]

Originally Posted by Cd

Driving, drafting, holding a camera, and blasting dance music all at once. Were you chewing gum too ?

Nice guages. Those aren't factory are they ? Nice scanguage setup as well.

Gauges are stock and I was chewing a gum as well , thanks

[holypaulie]

Originally Posted by Cd

Had you just let up on the gas when it spiked ? What were you getting before the bus was in front of you ?

I let up gas a bit and before bus I was getting around 50 mpg at the same speed. When I slowed down to 55 mph load increased and mpg went down to 45.

[theunchosen]

If there was a 10 dollar bill would you pick it up off the sidewalk? If you could reduce the amount of pollution you produce at no cost wouldn't you?

Draft.

I already said it but to really put this in perspective the person who you are drafting off of gets a bonus in mpg as well.

a .01% bonus on every other car in the us saves 1.3 million gallons of fuel or 2.6 million dollars.

Drafting allows me to hold my throttle just slightly higher than idle and cruise at 65. I'm using virtually no HP. The last few trips I've managed to find an RV this last time and a Semi the time before that stayed with me for 180 miles. Over that range I used 3.7 gallons and 3.8 gallons(48 and 47 mpg respectively). Either way thats a 38% improvement in FE.

I'll be conservative and I'll just say 10% for the purpose of calculating how much fuel is wasted by not drafting for the average driver.

1185978261 gallons of fuel per year in the US(Assumed avg vehicle gets 23 mpg, that only half of the cars would get a bonus, 50 million cars total, goes 12,000 miles a year, and a 10% increase in FE for the following car) plus the 1.3 million gallons saved by the car being drafted off of. And thats a modest estimate considering I can get 10% off of another small car(Civic 2 dr) and there are plenty of large trucks, rvs, SUVs and regular old trucks. Also if you link those chains at safe distances all but 2 of the cars get a push and hide inside someone else's envelope.

It is ecologically and economically responsible to draft at safe/legal ranges. If you aren't comfortable with it then its unsafe for you, but if you are then by all means be careful but do it.

Berkeley did a test that used small magnets embedded in the highway along with a radar gun at the nose of the car. The lead car followed the magnets and the following cars just had to stay exactly 21 feet behind the car in front of them. They did it with 7 cars and outside of standard cruise control they showed there was a substantial improvement in Fuel economy just from a Buick Lesabre drafting off of another Lesabre. They also tested the system at 5 feet and the results were much better but very few people could maintain that distance without burning up extra gas.

[Chuck.]

While equipment (i.e. a good fuel efficient car) is important - so is good technique. My testimonial of going from around 55 to 115mpg on morning work commutes...more typically the range would be 70 to 95mpg. Yes, that was about a 100% improvement, but anyone here can get 30% better without going to the edge - seriously. If you're not exceeding the EPA or plateauing on fuel economy, two things will help (1) start a thread and let members examine what you are doing, (2) read more on the techniques of hypermiling.

That morning commute is posted at 60mpg most of the way. I did 70-75 and now it's 45-55. I do the trip before rush hour - can't do it when traffic is heavy.

My hypermiling is not just technique or mods, but a steady change in attitudes and behavior. What I've found it the more a person feels they must keep up with the pack (in general: speed with the rest), the harder they find hypermiling and sometimes the more they dislike hypermiling. A number of speeders are trying to intimidate. Yesterday, a dump truck was highbeaming and tailgating me. He did not get to me. What do you think is going to happen to his job if he rear ends me? BTW, dump truck definitely have the worst drivers of big rigs - how do they get their CDL? At least a 100 yards behind me, he saw me tap my emergency flasher - plenty of time to find a chance to pass in one of the two lanes to the left. No, he spends at least 45 seconds attempting to kick my butt before passing like he should have done to start with. In most instances, the really bad tailgaters have some kind of behavioral issues - flagrant speeding, very short attention span, anger....it's not about my driving, but his driving.

Hypermiling is advanced defensive driving - knowing what's ahead and what to do. It's also not letting bad driver such as that dump truck get to you. Kind of like you're a quarterback and three 350lbs lineman are racing at you. You're going to get hit anyway, so concentrate on completing the pass.