What's Behind your Motivation to get High MPG?

[sendler]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Reduce petroleum consumption, leave a smaller carbon footprint, save money, feel superior to slobs. The whys and hows and the science and techniques are fascinating to me; an odd combination of gearhead and environmentalist.

Sums up my thoughts nicely. The science is in. We are mucking up the planet and running out of time. Fossil fuel supplies are finite. Spread the word. We need to use the current energy wealth to make a transition to sustainable energy sources. It will take a century. And lots of energy to build the new infrastructure. Instead of wasting it on selfishly over speced personal transportation. The're going to need a mighty long extension cord on their electric tractor to grow enough food for 15 Billion people in 2200 after peak oil is long gone.
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[CoulombMotorsport]

I've never really classed myself as an Eco-Modder given that rather than modify my gasoline road car, I started by building wind turbines and then progressed to designing and building my own electric 'cars' (3 wheeled endurance racers). These vehicles are inherently efficient so I never really thought too much of it until December when my brother and I set a record for Australia's most efficient manned land vehicle (131 km/kWh, which is equal to 1170 km/Litre (2752 mpg).

My motivation for building these vehicles is not only to help the environment but also to stop oil money heading overseas to the middle east and exacerbating the conflict there.

[jcp123]

Chew chew, good to see you here. I am the same username over on Fuelly.

Anyway. I initially got into it from my Pa's basic fuel economy advice. His tactics are crude by our standards but at their core are dead on correct with his instincts. I started because I had gas guzzlers I was trying to eke out a bit of extra economy from. I was motivated by money. I don't see money as a good motivation anymore - it doesn't save enough short of the advanced techniques I have never been inclined to use, so today it's basically a personal challenge. I couldn't care less about carbon footprint or global warming, but I suppose it doesn't hurt to do better at that. At the core, I really just like the personal challenge, though. It's addictive and intoxicating.