Welcome to Driving with Galen!
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. About Me
III. How to Calculate MPG
IV. Table With Distance, Speed and Time
V. Calculate Savings
VI. Tips for Driving
I. Introduction
Welcome and thank you for coming to Driving with Galen! I
will be instructing you on how to save gas and increase your
car's miles per gallon rating. In this short
instructional, you will find tips on how to calculate MPG and
taking a look at distance, speed and time, as well as
learning tips to save gas and increase your car's life. I
bet you're excited now. So excited you squeezed an animal
until it's eyeballs popped out of socket! Relax, learn
and hopefully after this instructional, you will not only
have a good understanding of efficient driving, but also a
better understanding of road safety. Happy learning!
II. About Me
Hello there my name is Lucas Hoage, my internet name is
Galen. I'm 21 years old with an unusual devotion to
learning. On top of learning though, I enjoy sharing
information and ideas with people from as close as my own
community, to across the nation and beyond. I do a ton of
experiments at home and elsewhere, but mostly around the
house. My experiments range from building television antennas
with more power than store bought ones, as well as costing
less than 10$ to make. Some other designs are, Do it yourself
air conditioner that can run 365 days a year, and yes even
leap day too while still costing half as much as a window
unit. Put several of these in a home and compare it to a
central air unit, and my design still yields less than half
expense. My experiments have led me to save tons of money,
more than the average froogle minded person would. For
instance, I have experimented with my electric bill to make
it fall less than half of what it normally is. Average =
$120+, Experiment = $60 or less. It took quite a bit of
research and experimentations to achieve my yields, but it
has paid off very well.
The main part of the information I will be sharing with
you here is about saving gas, driving safer, and prolonging
your vehicle's life. I am not a mechanical engineer, or a
Motor vehicle operations expert, but I do know of testable,
proven, savings yielding tips that are sure to help you
obtain the same savings in driving that I do. Now that
we're aquainted, we can begin learning formulas, safety,
and better driving habits. Its a little long, but you like
money right? I hope you said yes. :)
Lucas Hoage ~Galens~
III. How to Calculate MPG
In
today's economy, MPG is very important. Its like a race
to the highest MPG possible. Some people care, others are
obsessed with it, some just don't care. It is very
important to care what your MPG is. This will allow you to
understand how far you can travel, as well as how much money
you are spending. With the tips I provide you at the end of
this instructional you will be on your way to better MPG and
savings! But for now, we're here to learn how to
calculate MPG.
Lets
say for example you have a 5 gallon tank. You want to find
the MPG for your vehicle so you fill it to the top. reset
your trip scale so you can get an accurate table for your
first measurement. Begin driving until you are on a half of a
tank.(use judgement) Return to a gas station and refill your
tank. Write down the amount it took to refill for future
reference. You are going to want to do this 4-5 times to get
a nice average since your driving conditions may vary day to
day. Once you have 5 measurements from both refill and
driving distance, go ahead and start your calculations. I
will provide you with some examples to help you accomplish
this goal.
Trip 1
5 Gallons max
100 Miles travel distance
2.75 gallons to refill
So now you have your first measurements.
100 Miles Divided by 2.75 Gallons = 36.4 MPG
Trip 2
5 Gallons max
117 Miles travel distance
2.96 gallons to refill
So now you have your second measurements.
117 Miles Divided by 2.96 Gallons = 39.5 MPG
How to find an average
For the sake of my hands, I'm going to shorten this table by showing you how to do an average with your MPG measurements. We'll explore how to find the almost perfect reading of your MPG by using your trip measurements and coming up with an average.
Trip 1 - 36.4 MPG
Trip 2 - 39.5 MPG
So lets take our two numbers and get an average.
36.4 + 39.5 = 75.9
Now we divide the number of MPG measurements with the
total we have.
75.9 Divided by 2 = 37.95 MPG.
So our average MPG would be 37.95. That would give us
our MPG for our vehicle. So now you know how to calculate
your MPG, now we can move onto the next step.
IV. Table With Distance, Speed and Time
ZOOM! Yes you, you're the one that
cut in front of me only to turn 1/2 mile down the road later.
Yes you, putting others, you and I at risk for your bad and
unsafe driving, just to make it to your destination 30
seconds faster or like some of the other worst drivers, as
low as .7 seconds faster. Time is always going to be here.
How you judge your commutes is a LARGE factor in saving gas
and money. Not only savings, but safety. A lot of drivers
will just cut eachother off to get in front of one another.
But ultimately, you aren't going anywhere faster, because
chances are, you're going to be stuck behind another
person, only to hit your brakes. This is NOT safe driving,
and it causes major accidents. I myself have fallen victim to
over 7 potential accidents. People will floor it to pass, but
not pay attention to their distance ahead of me, and
literally cut me off. If I don't move or brake, I would
be wrecked. Insurance money is nice, but when I have a
potential to get hurt, thats not good at all. Safety is the
most important key to driving, so please, after you learn
this information, do try to be more courteous and juge your
commutes better. Once you learn this information you will
know how to travel more timely and slower as well.
| Distance | Speed | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 60 Miles | S 60 Mph | T 1 hour |
| D 30 Miles | S 60 Mph | T 30 min |
| D 15 Miles | S 60 Mph | T 15 min |
| D 60 Miles | S 55 Mph | T 1H 5M 27S |
| D 30 Miles | S 55 Mph | T 32M 43S |
| D 15 Miles | S 55 Mph | T 16M 21S |
| D 60 Miles | S 45 Mph | T 1H 20M |
| D 30 Miles | S 45 Mph | T 40 min |
| D 15 Miles | S 45 Mph | T 20 min |
As you can see, the distances aren't unreasonable, nor are the speeds. The times are correct for all distances and speeds. Notice that it doesn't take an unreasonable amount of time to just travel at a slower speed. You gain several benefits from traveling at slower speeds.
Benefits
- Safer Travels
- Less Fuel consumption
- More time to react to dangerous/hazardous driving conditions or incidents
- More time to listen to the radio :)
- Less wear on your tires
- Slower wear on vehicle's parts
- Less traffic tickets
Disadvantages
- Longer commutes(Not by much though)
Only 1 disadvantage I can contemplate.
V. Calculate Savings
Here I will show you the savings you can have if you
listen to my tips. I will be using my car's manufacturing
data for MPG and compare the cost to my new improved Mpg.
1997 Honda Civic HX 2 Door 5 Speed Manual
Car Manufacturers Data 31 MPG City
My Improvements 40-43.5 MPG
Yes, I truly was getting around 30 MPG driving the way
you people do. Now the way I drive truly improves upon
performance and distance.
Now with those figures represented, we're going to
take the yearly amount spent in gas and compare them from
eachother. Watch out, this could roxor your boxorz.
Lets use an average of $3.00 a gallon for the entire
year. I know the gas fluctuates during the year, so this
seems like a fair amount, a middle ground.
I go through a tank of gas about twice a month. So
thats about 15 gallons? We'll call it 15. It doesn't
matter anyways its just an example.
This is a tiny exaggeration of my driving distance per
month.
31 MPG x 30 Gal = 930 Miles 40 MPG x 30 Gal = 1200
Miles
30 Gal x 12 Months = 360 Gal per year
360 Gal x $3 = $1080 per year
930 Miles x 12 Months = 11160 Miles per year 1200
Miles x 12 Months = 14000 Miles per year
14000 - 11160 Miles = 2840 extra miles I get
2840 Miles divided by 40 MPG = 71 gallons
71 Gal x $3 = $213 saved per year.
So as you can see, I saved a nice chunk of money from
using my tips for driving system. You might not think $213
over the course of a year is a lot, but consider this then.
$213 x 50 years = $10650 I save over 50 years time
So now
you know that it adds up. Not only that, but there are even
more gas improving tips available on the internet to help you
"hyper mile" one person got 103 MPG with the new
Prius which is rated 53 MPG. Most of his driving habits I
already use. Imagine if I drove on the interstate or highway
all the time. I promise I would get a minimum of 50
MPG. So you always have to think savings. It adds up, you
could buy a brand new boat for that much or build a hunting
club, or whatever you want to do. Hell retirement funds would
be killer by doing that. So just think about it.
Remember, this cannot be used as an accurate guide for
calculations as gas prices flucuate. You are more than likely
going to pay more per year. So that means even more savings
in the long run. Most Americans spend over $1500 minimum a
year on gas. That is not including the truckers, but they are
screwed anyways.
VI. Tips for Driving
You've made it this far, I hope you aren't
bored. This is it, the experiments I have personally done to
aquire better gas milage and safer commutes. I use these tips
every day and have never once lost any gas, but have gained.
I even experimented driving in average driving conditions and
abnormal driving conditions. Not to mention testing to make
sure it wasn't just my car that was getting great MPG, I
drove like a dumbass for a week, not following any of the
tips and I got what my manufacturer had stated. So without
further suspense, here are the tips. ENJOY!
Tips
- Always make sure air pressure is at max PSI. Anymore will make you lose traction, any less will drag the car. More air, less tread wear.
- Always keep the air filter clean.
- keep all unneeded items out of the car. Less weight, longer travels. Make sure to keep emergency roadside equipment just incase though.
- Do NOT let the vehicle idle, even in cold weather. It wastes gas. The vehicle is perfectly fine to drive immediately after ignition, just do not accelerate like a jackass.
- Do not fill your tank more than 3/4 full unless you are measuring MPG. Its more weight added.
- Keep spark plugs up to date, and if possible, invest in better fire rate ignition system.(Ignition system upgrade not needed for uber MPG, but it helps a little)
- Always change the oil when recommended. Switch to low weight and synthetic if possible. DO NOT mix regular and synthetic motor oil together!
- Always rotate and align your tires when recommended.
- NEVER accelerate past 50% pedel or 2,000 RPMS.
- If possible, shift gears at lowest RPM. My car shifts at 2,000 rpms normal, I try to shift at 1500-1750 rpms instead. You'll know if you shifted way to early if you hear a loud dragging sound. I't won't ruin your car, but its too much drag in the gear and wastes too much gas. Experiment on this because every vehicle is different.
- Judge your stops, if you see a red light or stop sign coming up, you should be traveling slow enough that you can throw the car in neutral and coast all the way up there with MINIMUM braking.
- Shut off the vehicle if you think you will idle more than 10 seconds.
- It is okay to use the air conditioner, but it really does waste gas.
- When traveling uphill, throw your car into neutral if possible, and coast up and down the hill, once on level road again, resume gear.
So now you know, its rather easy to get better gas
milage. Most of it has to do with judging stops, and not
accelerating fast. Now that you have learned the way of the
Jr. Hyper Miler, you are ready to save money and drive safer.
Share this with your friends and family. If I come across
more information that I myself can test and prove results, I
will be posting it right here on the site. Thank you for
taking the time to read this instructional, and I hope you do
follow the tips and consider other people on the road.
Farewell!
