Sharing a car with a non-hypermiling spouse

[#SaveTheManuals]

I was wondering how other hypermilers deal with what must be a pretty common situation: obsessively hypermiling only to have all your hard-earned tank/lifetime MPG average diminished by a non-hypermiling spouse or other driver in the household.

Now that we bought our first new car in 15 years, I'm having fun trying to keep the lifetime MPG (e.g., as recorded in the car's computer and also the Garage section here) as high as possible. That's hard to do when my wife isn't nearly as invested in hypermiling as I am. She does OK when she's concentrating on it, but it's not a big priority for her. The MPG predictably dips when she's focused on other things while driving.

Since she'll probably be putting about half the miles on the car, I know that the lifetime MPG is going to end up roughly halfway between "my" MPG of maybe 41, and whatever my wife gets (probably mid-30s). Similarly, every tank is going to be an exercise of me trying to slowly raise the average from wherever my wife left it during her last trip, up toward (but never reaching) 41 MPG.

I think the only way to be at peace with the situation -- short of my wife unexpectedly deciding she wants to be a hypermiler -- is trying to ignore the tank/lifetime average and just focus on my own per-trip MPG. Luckily the car's computer seems pretty accurate so far, maybe 1-2% optimistic, so it should be easy enough to do. Unfortunately the only way to maintain a history of my trip-MPGs is to write it down after each trip. :/

Anyone (everyone?) else in the same boat? I'm really just looking for commiseration, though any mental or practical hacks to deal with it are welcome as well.

[redpoint5]

Solution would be a hybrid. My wife gets very nearly the same as me in the Prius. She's a pretty efficient driver to begin with.

[jjackstone]

You either have to buy another vehicle or live with it. I have the same problem with the house. When both my roommate and I are at home to we'll use 3 or 4kwh of electricity per day total. When I'm gone for a couple days the rate increases to 8 to 10 kwh per day. I've dealt with it for years. It's too trivial to let it bother you.
Of course you can always buy a second vehicle just for hypermiling.
JJ

[#SaveTheManuals]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Solution would be a hybrid.

Originally Posted by jjackstone

You either have to buy another vehicle or live with it. ...
Of course you can always buy a second vehicle just for hypermiling.

Yeah, last month we just bought our first new car in 15 years, so it will probably be a while before we need another. And likely at that point it will be to replace our minivan vs getting a car just for me to hypermile in.

The idea of a dedicated beater/hypermiler-for-me-only is definitely appealing, but I don't see it happening anytime soon.

[#SaveTheManuals]

Originally Posted by jjackstone

I have the same problem with the house. When both my roommate and I are at home to we'll use 3 or 4kwh of electricity per day total. When I'm gone for a couple days the rate increases to 8 to 10 kwh per day. I've dealt with it for years. It's too trivial to let it bother you.

That would drive me insane...especially if we split utilities 50/50 and I knew my roomate was the one accounting for most of the expense.

It's too trivial to let it bother you.

I'm really bad at whatever mental hack is required to say "even though I put a lot of energy/care/attention/resources into X, I'm not going to let it bother me when I can't achieve X due to factors outside my control." The level of compartmentalization required to simultaneously care and not care is beyond my ken. What usually happens is that I just give up on X altogether.

[redpoint5]

I get it. Most everyone is that way to some degree or another. That's why places that are littered with garbage receive even more litter. People give up caring when others don't care. That's what makes reducing CO2 emissions intractable, because there's no point in trying if everyone isn't also trying. As my wife always says "I'll go first after you".

EVs and hybrids will make hypermiling less important though. They will seek the optimal gearing and recover excessive braking leaving less on the table to improve.

[#SaveTheManuals]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

EVs and hybrids will make hypermiling less important though. They will seek the optimal gearing and recover excessive braking leaving less on the table to improve.

Personally I love driving because it's fun to operate the clutch/stick/accelerator in an attempt to squeeze both good performance and good efficiency from the car. When it comes to EV/hybrids, hopefully there's still some user-level optimization available...otherwise driving will become very boring and unrewarding (for me).

And yes, this means I kind of dread the advent of self-driving cars.

[redpoint5]

I'm of a similar mind, but then EVs and hybrids have plenty of other neat things to nerd out on while driving if you're into data analysis.

[jjackstone]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I get it.... People give up caring when others don't care. That's what makes reducing CO2 emissions intractable, because there's no point in trying if everyone isn't also trying. As my wife always says "I'll go first after you".

....

Not all of us. Only those who have a sheep mentality. They don't care so why should I? I care because it matters to me. I don't care what others think about that. I do care what they do to the world but I can't force them to do the things I do and I am able to realize that. So I do the best I can to do my best to help. I'll even try to convince others up to a point that they should care more. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.
JJ

[MeteorGray]

The way I do it is to have dedicated cars: one for the spouse and another for me. I dedicate my Mazda3 to my commutes and I'm the sole driver. Otherwise, there's no way I would bother keeping up with my mileage.

My only "hypermiling" is to keep my speed moderate and do obvious things like coasting to a stop sign.

My wife does neither.

It is spousal harmony and long experience that prevents me from asking as a passenger in her car: "Why are you still accelerating when you can plainly see that stop sign looming 75 feet ahead?"