How to get extreme milage from ordinary cars

In a speed-obsessed world, "hypermiler" Jack Martin stands out for going to extremes to squeeze the maximum fuel efficiency from his car. Devin Powell caught up with Martin to find out his top fuel-saving tips - and how hypermiling can change your life

When did your enthusiasm for fuel-efficient driving start?

In the 60s and 70s, school buses in North Carolina were driven by students. I signed up. One day the school asked if I was cutting out part of my route - I was using less gas than the previous driver. I told them, no: my driving instructor said that a good driver is gentle with his vehicle. He doesn't get on the brakes all the time and doesn't floor it.

Something must have triggered this economy bug for you. What was it?

Canoes. When I was young, I used to fish out of these boats and would try to get across the lake using as few paddle strokes as possible. When I taught swimming later in my life I would always say the same thing: see how few strokes you can use to get across the pool, then see if you can improve your strokes and glide to use even fewer.

Being economical is all very well but hypermiling seems a bit extreme. How did you get into it and what do you get out of it?

When I was doing the 2001 World Solar Challenge - a solar-powered car race across Australia - the drivers looked at the route ahead of them and timed their driving so that they didn't use much energy. I took that to heart. I met Hans Tholstrup there, this wild adventurer who had gotten 128 miles per gallon (1.84 litres per 100 kilometres) crossing the outback in a Honda Insight. He didn't call it hypermiling back then, but I started using his techniques.

It was only a couple of years ago that people started holding official hypermiling rallies, at which you're judged on your mileage divided by the US Environmental Protection Agency's fuel-economy rating for your vehicle. That's what I like about hypermiling: someone in a gas-guzzling Hummer could get 18 mpg (15.7l/100km) and this would still be an 80 per cent increase in fuel efficiency. Everyone is competing on a level playing field.

Hypermilers have a reputation for going very slowly to save fuel. Is this accurate?

We're not the slowest people on the road; we're typically the ones going at the speed limit. When a vehicle goes by, you feel it initially suck on you a little bit and then push you. If you're sensitive to that, you can work it, like a porpoise riding the waves created by a boat. You start looking at it as energy around you. And it's nonsensical to try to be too slow because then you're just fighting that wall of air as it goes past you.

What do you think of the more extreme hypermiling techniques, such as draughting in the slipstream of large trucks?

I've seen people draughting, but personally I just don't have the balls for it. It takes a tremendous amount of concentration, and it's cool until you have to go to the hospital to get the tailpipe pulled out of your head.

How does the way you drive differ from how everyone else drives?

I have difficulty multitasking while driving. I can't talk on the phone while driving. It's about awareness and "hyperconsciousness", which takes a lot of practice. You have to look far down the road and be aware of everything going on in front and around you. I first learned that while driving the bus. My eyes were constantly moving to the mirrors, the speed dial, the road, to anticipate conditions and stop in time.

What is one thing this "hyperconsciousness" has shown you that the rest of us miss?

Roads often have little valleys and ridges created by the tyres of many cars. If you ride the ridges, you can get better mileage per gallon, especially if it's been raining and the valleys are filled with puddles.

Would you feel comfortable teaching your children these techniques? Aren't they dangerous?

I have no problem teaching them most techniques - there is a safety gain from the heightened awareness that hypermiling brings. Whether they'll use them is another question. My son's car doesn't get nearly the miles per gallon that I get. But I'm an old man and drive a lot more slowly.

Does hypermiling require changes to your vehicle?

You make sure that your car can breathe - that the air filters are clean - and inflate your tyres to their maximum rated pressure. It's amazing the difference you can feel in the resistance of pumped-up tyres. I once saw a Prius race a slalom course at a competition. The tyres were squealing and bulging on the turns, but then they pumped them up to the maximum rating. The sounds stopped and the time improved.

So what is the best way to improve fuel efficiency?

Buy some kind of feedback system. A scan gauge that costs about $130 will give you instantaneous feedback on how many miles you're getting to the gallon. If you pay attention, it will improve your overall mileage. If you lose focus, if your foot taps just a little too hard, you can see your miles per gallon drop and it's very disheartening.

Most hypermilers also like to drive barefoot to feel the resistance on the accelerator. The connection between that resistance and the numbers on the scan gauge tells you what behaviours improve your mileage. By following my techniques, a friend improved her mpg by 70 per cent.

You make it sound as if hypermiling becomes some kind of life-changing experience for the people who do it.

Hypermiling is a virus which makes you start to change other behaviour. Most hypermilers improve the efficiency of their homes; they'll show you a programmable thermostat that gives them feedback on their energy consumption and cuts the electrical bill by 60 or 70 per cent. One of the things that has always tickled me is how many hypermilers take up bicycling. It starts off as an efficiency thing that grabs their attention, but then they feed off each other and it becomes part of the community.

Which is more important for conserving energy: new technologies or changing behaviour?

I've always thought that the most timely thing we could do is to develop new behaviours that we could use now. We have cut a million barrels of oil out of demand in the US since April because people are not going out as much. If we could just average around 50 miles per gallon (4.7l/100km), we could cut oil usage in half.

You mention concern about exactly who is selling the US its oil. Is there a political side to hypermiling?

When you ask a hypermiler what set them off, you'll find most of them are pretty patriotic. They say, "I don't want to see us going to war, so I'm increasing my fuel efficiency." Some say it's for the environmental benefits or to save money. But not wanting to kill people for oil is probably the most common reason.

"Not wanting to kill for oil is the most common reason to hypermile"

What's your next big challenge?

There are two things I would love to be able to do. One would be a solar safari around the world, building and giving away solar technology. The other would be to build a solar-powered train and set a transcontinental speed record.

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From issue 2679 of New Scientist magazine, 23 October 2008, page 42-43