Hypermile Your CSS
Right now you might be wondering if you accidentally turned off Javascript, or cranked up your ad blocker a bit too aggressively. Where'd all the CSS go? Well, I can assure you that you are seeing this site exactly as I intend for you to see it.
Hypermile your CSS
If you aren't familiar with hypermiling, it's the practice of optimizing your car and your driving habits to get the most possible miles out of one tank of gas. As I started to build this blog I became obsessed with figuring out the shortest, quickest path between me typing on a computer and a person reading the words.
This should be your smallest unit of measurement except for the rare exception. It is only over the course of an entire tank that you can take multiple factors into consideration: morning versus evening commutes, good weather versus storms, etc.
Of course, the granddaddy of all averages is the overall Lifetime Average. This reflects your entire driving experience with the car. Lifetime averages do not need to start when the car is brand new; it is the one-number record of you and the car working together as a team, regardless of how old the car was when you two first met.
In another post, we discussed how to best handle your day-to-day commute by finding a mileage-friendly route, memorizing it, and documenting how well you do. This article will address how to handle those unexpected and irregular trips. For example, running errands on the weekends.
By starting with the farthest destination, the engine will have that initial chance to get completely up to temperature and start running efficiently. Then, when you head to the second stop, the engine is starting from a warm condition and is more likely to return to optimal temperature before stopping again. The same goes for all subsequent stops. The point here is that you want to give your car at least one long drive to reach optimal temperature.
One consideration that might be a bit of a stretch is that the less-than-direct route might have better roads. In other words, find a path that avoids crappy roads. No doubt you have noticed that your car rolls better and gets better overall mileage on freshly paved, smooth roads. If provided the opportunity, define your route based on traveling on the smoothest roads. Besides, driving on rough roads just plain stinks.
Documenting the Trip MPG is nice, but by itself, only presents a part of the story. For example, yesterday your trip MPG was much higher than today. Why? Without other variables, it might be impossible to know. Which is why you might want to also consider documenting. . .
Many times, I compare hypermiling to riding a bicycle. This works because almost everyone knows how to ride a bike, which makes it a universal reference. Also, you most likely remember how tired you can become if you do not ride efficiently. Though neither you nor your car will get tired, you have to focus on the amount of effort being exerted; the goal is to travel farther with less effort.
Many hybrid sedans are forced to trade trunk space for battery size. The Sonata Hybrid sports a decent sized truck. The floor size is 45 inches wide, 25 inches deep and 21 inches high. I was able to fit nine paper shopping bags with no problems. There was room on top for those high items. The rear lip of the trunk is low enough that not only is it easy to get the bags into the trunk, getting them out is just as easy without having to worry about throwing out your back.
My first impression of the overall cockpit and center console was underwhelming, but not in a bad way. The lines are clean and capacitance buttons replace most of the conventional air conditioning buttons and knobs. This means they use the electrical capacitance of your fingers to trigger the buttons. When you remove the push buttons and dials found in most cars, you are rewarded with a cockpit that is clean and sleek.
In this case, the stoplight is green and you can continue through it. But is it really that easy? How long has the light been green? If you know your route, you have a general idea how long before this light changes to yellow and then red.
Most people would look at this and see that the light is red and therefore, you will be required to stop. A hypermiler, on the other hand, looks at the side lights and sees they are yellow. With some luck and good timing, you should be able to coast up to the light just after it turns green. Always watch the side street for people running the yellow or red.
In a very real way, this situation is about ten seconds prior to the previous image. The car in front of you will trigger the left-turn light when your light turns green. The oncoming car is not in the left-turn lane and will sit there. You will have an extended green light to proceed at whatever rate you desire.
By selecting a different route, I can not only achieve better mileage, I can choose how my day starts and ends. If you find that you arrive at work already stressed and you return home mentally ragged, do yourself a favor and seek out a more casual and hypermile-friendly route.
Over-inflating your tires will create a rougher and bumpier ride. It does. There is no way around that. If you decide to over-inflate your tires, you must realize that you do so fully understanding the impact it will have on the smoothness of your ride.