Hypermiling Contest at Work

[TonyPSchaefer]

A couple weeks ago a coworker approached me and said something to the extent of, "I hear you are a hypermiler." He had seen the Wayne Gerdes piece on CNN and was talking about it with some other coworkers. Someone directed him to me. Turns out he drives something like 75 miles per day to and from work and buys gas every third day. Prompted by the report, he went to CleanMPG and started chatting over there. But for the one-on-one interactions, we started talking.

I modified my mileage spreadsheet so he could use it to track his own mileage and compare his results with the EPA rating for his car. I also added a couple columns indicating his total gasoline consumption and savings compared to previous average. I should mention that when I asked what his current mileage was, he produced a very detailed report of past fill-ups and mile-per-tank reports. So we were off to a good start.

Not even a week later, I heard via grapevine that he had forwarded my spreadsheet to another coworker. Unfortunately, I had hard-coded the 1st guy's EPA so I further modified the spreadsheet, this time adding a calculations section where they can enter the EPA ratings for city and highway and indicate the percentage spent in each environment. This way, they have a relatively fair comparison for each person since the first one is mostly highway and the second is mostly city.

So the competition is on.
In less than a month, they are returning percentages in the 20-30% over "expected mileage" for their respective vehicles and driving conditions. And this is just with the "easy" stuff like anticipatory driving, driving without braking, and coasting at non-speeding speeds. In fact, one told me that one day he was driving 55 in a 55 zone (average speed 70) and found himself in a pack of cars, all maintaining 55. Previously he would have zipped past and called them "obstacles." Now, though, he nods, waves, and knows exactly what they are doing.

Personally, I was surprised by the enthusiasm they have both displayed. Of course they enjoy seeing that "Total $ Saved" column go up but they are constantly hitting me up for that next great tip and trick to improve their mileage.

I'll try to update regularly as the results come in. Unfortunately, I don't at this moment have their baseline numbers. I'll add that in a reply or edit this post in the future.

[Edit]
I've added the spreadsheet per the requests in the replies.
There's a few things to keep in mind about it. For one, I've locked down most of the cells to keep the users from accidentally screwing up a formula. I don't claim to be the best Excel formula writer, so no heckling. Lastly, when calculating the gas money saved, we decided to use the cost of the tank just finished rather than the one just pumped because that's the one they just hypermiled. If anything goes wrong with the spreadsheet, let me know. If you have any ideas for improving it, the protection password is "priapus" and you're free to make the changes yourself.
[/Edit]

[bulletprooffool]

So when are they upgrading their cars to Prius?

[TonyPSchaefer]

I'm sure they're not. Not anytime soon anyway.
I think it would be great if more people were doing what they are doing with the car they have.

[bulletprooffool]

I only started being concerned about gas mileage because I got a Prius with a pretty display to reward me with big towers when I drove nicely :-) - I think if all cars simply had the nice Prius MFD, more people would drive more efficiently!

[Prius 07]

Great story Tony - thanks for sharing. Not everyone will buy a Prius and even with the trend to more fuel efficient cars it will take sometime to swing the pendulum. In the mean time people can choose to adopt more fuel efficient driving techniques and make a difference.
Keep us posted please.

[VaPrius]

Great story and idea. There are a few folks at my office that would be interested. Can you post your spreadsheet? I know we can create one ourselves but it sounds like you've already put a lot of thought into yours.

[patsparks]

I'm with your work mates Tony.
I was hypermiling my Camry before I bit the bullet and got a Prius. I don't drive the Prius any differently than I did the Camry, well maybe a little different.

Keep up the good work, as they say getting 4mpg better from a guzzler is better than an extra 4mpg from a Prius and your work mates don't need to spend a cent to save fuel.

[markderail]

That spreadsheet could make a great sticky.

[TonyPSchaefer]

Spreadsheet in original post.

[TonyPSchaefer]

Here are the one-month results spanning June 6 to July 3.

Coworker 1 (suburban-Chicagoland commute):

• Number of tanks so far: 7
• Expected Mileage: 23mpg
• Total Miles: 1,875
• Expected Gallons: 81.52
• Actual Gallons: 62.04
• Average MPG: 30.22mpg
• Percent Over EPA: 33.13%
• Total Gas Savings: $80.65

Coworker 2 (long, mostly-highway commute):

• Number of tanks so far: 14
• Expected Mileage: 29mpg
• Total Miles: 3,753
• Expected Gallons: 129.41
• Actual Gallons: 93.13
• Average MPG: 40.30mpg
• Percent Over EPA: 38.97%
• Total Gas Savings: $146.49