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by CRAIG DIXON
Intern Lifestyles Reporter
Thirty percent.
That’s how much Americans could increase their fuel efficiency if they were all hypermilers, Jack Martin, technology professor at Appalachian State University, said.
Martin feels less pain at the pump than most.
He’s a hypermiler, and he’s good at it.
So good, in fact, he can add “Grand Champion” to the front of his name.
He won the 150 mile “Tour to the Shore” hypermiling competition last June, a timed, rally style race in New Jersey.
“The EPA rating for [my car] is 60 to 65 miles per gallon,” he said.
 Jack Martin stands beside a prototype for a solar water heater. Martin practices hypermiling, a driving style designed to increase a car’s fuel economy. Techniques include cruising in neutral and gradually slowing down at stoplights. Photo by Holt Menzies. |
But during the competition, Martin squeezed 124.6 miles per gallon out of his Honda Insight Hybrid.
The New
Oxford American Dictionary defines hypermiling as “the attempt to
maximize gas mileage by making fuel-conserving adjustments to one’s
vehicle and one’s driving techniques.”
Martin
has shown such skill for the fuel-saving sport he recently got the
attention of ESPN: The Magazine when they arranged for him to take a
spin with NASCAR racer Carl Edwards.
Driving
from Roush Fenway Racing headquarters to Lowe’s motor speedway in
Charlotte in a hybrid Ford Fusion, Martin got 60 miles per gallon
On the trip back Edwards did the driving. He got 10 miles per gallon.
“I love telling a race car driver to slow down,” Martin said to ESPN.
“Our
job is to go as fast as possible. And that means whatever Jack does is
usually the total opposite of what we do,” Edwards said to ESPN.
Their driving habits may appear polarized, but the two hit it off quickly after discovering a mutual interest in cycling.
They soon began to see similarities in their driving techniques using cycling as an analogy.
“Your
legs get tired so you maximize efficiency with hills and banking, you
use momentum. Hypermiling works on the same principle,” Martin said.
Edwards has used a few hypermiling techniques himself, and has clinched a few wins as a result.
He was able to bring his fuel efficiency in his Ford Fusion Race Car from 4.25 mph to 5.6 by using hypermiling principles.
This allowed him to skip a pit stop and gain position.
Taking some lead out of his foot led to a 24 percent increase in fuel efficiency.
Martin has a few tips for improving efficiency.
The first is to go the speed limit, as the legal limits are often the speed that will maximize a car’s fuel efficiency.
Keeping a car lighter can help too.
“People
have so much junk in their cars they don’t think about, most people are
carrying an extra 150 to 500 pounds of stuff in their cars,” Martin
said.
Additionally,
Martin suggests drivers should keep their tires pumped to the highest
recommended psi, or pounds per square inch, level.
He also suggests coasting down hills, easing off the gas at red lights and shadowing 18 wheelers.
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