Educating my daughter
 

We took a trip this week from Montgomery, AL to Biloxi, MS. She got her mileage reimbursed, so she filled the tank before departing, and at arrival in Biloxi. Vehicle is a 2005 Grand Caravan with 3.3 L V-6 and AT.

She drove 80 mph going down. 262 miles on 12.2 gal = 21.5 MPG . It's a 240 mile drive, so ~3 hours to get there.

We took the trip because she had to have surgery. I drove back at 62 mph. ~4 hours to return. We stopped for dinner en route, and she dozed much of the way, so the slower trip didn't matter to her, and she was my captive audience anyway. My mileage? 240 miles on 9.2 gal = 26.1 MPG . That's a 21.3% improvement just from slowing down. I didn't try high speed P&G, just slowing down.

At $2.46/gal, her half of the trip cost $30.01 v. my $22.63. She spent an extra $7.38, or 33%, in fuel costs for her haste. I also pointed out the high speed conga line of cars <1 second following distance from the one in front of each of them.

I doubt it will help, but the indisputable facts are there for her comparison. She has the gas receipts to turn in.

Does she have to pay for gas? (how old is she)

She's 41, with four drivers in her family. They're all 10 mph > PSL drivers. Unfortunately, she probably picked up her bad habits from me. I used to always drive 7 mph > PSL. Now the only time I reach PSLs are when they're 55 or lower, and the only time I exceed them is coasting down hills when it's free.

Oh, I see.

Yeah, I used to be a 7-8>PSL driver, but then realized how much more dangerous it was.

Crunching your numbers, she saved 0.87 hours by driving faster, but you saved $7.38 by driving slower. Would you be willing to spend $8.48/hr to be at home instead of sitting in a car?

But if you had taken a car that uses half as much fuel as the Caravan, you would have saved $4.24/hr. To me, that's clearly a poor optimization, especially when there's two people in the car. Drive faster; you'll get there sooner.

But what about those who consider hypermiling a sport? Then the time taken doesn't count since it was for doing something you enjoy. You're also saving the environment and avoiding speeding tickets.

That said, in the city, it is possible to hypermile without slowing down much. On the highway, aerodynamic modifications make the most sense.

He could have driven 200mph, gotten there a lot faster and "save" a lot of time.

Most of the time that I drive slow, I don't mind the extra time. I got some good jams on the radio and i'm just taking my time.

Sometimes an hour of time is easily worth $7.38. 3 vs 4 hours for a road trip is significant. That could easily be the difference between getting home safely and dozing off and driving into oncoming traffic.

I think the real lesson here is that you can take hypermiling too far. I always like to point out that saving a little fuel not worth aggravating hundreds of fellow drivers by being in their way.

Time isn't important to me, now that I'm retired. You working stiffs should realize that $7 or $8 an hour isn't all that factors into the equation. You're giving most of that money to enemies of America - Venezuela, Iran, Russia, China, etc. You're risking a $400 or higher speeding ticket. Your risk of getting into an accident goes up about 25%, and when you have that accident, your risk of serious injury goes up about 50%. All that to save (on most commutes) about ten minutes.

I doubt that you will doze off, assuming you know that it will take you x number of hours.

61 miles an hour shouldn't aggravate anyone, especially in Alabama where we don't have to be there like most "city" people need to be there.