Maximizing Your Cars Fuel Efficiency

Friday night, Paul Scott, co-founder of Plug In America and featured in the film Who Killed the Electric Car, spoke about maximizing your cars fuel efficiency through hypermiling and proper maintenance. I've been trying to put it in practice, but it is challenging. If you are anything like me, you have some bad driving habits.

Here are a few of the tips he shared.

- Use the brakes as little as possible. Of course, use them for safety reasons, but consider how driving more slowly and coasting can help you avoid using them because everytime you step on the brakes, you are wasting energy that you have put into the car's engine.

- From a stop, accelerate very slowly. It will be counter-intuitive and you will worry about the people behind you, but you waste a lot of gas by punching the gas.

- Coast to a stop at a red light. If you see the light turn red, start coasting. Chances are that if you start coasting, it will turn green again before you get there.

- Keep a few car lengths between you and other cars on the highway. That way, you can coast when you see there brake lights come on instead of breaking

- Use your cruise control to maintain a steady speed of 60 or 65 on the highway.

- Over 40 mph, roll up the windows

- Keep your tires properly inflated. Depending on the age of the tires, check every month to 6 months

Gas is expensive and polluting. The less of it you use, the better. Sure, the guy or gal behind you might get annoyed, but they are wasting gas and you won't be. And maybe by practicing some of these techniques, you can turn other people onto hypermiling and start a trend!