Coasting

Do you ever wonder why a new car is listed with estimated gas mileage as 32 hwy and 27 city? Isn't that backwards? Don't higher speeds mean more drag? Even at a factor of speed squared! Well, with not much thought it becomes obvious that lower in town mileage is due to stop and go. Think about the billions of gallons of gasoline each day that are converted into heat in a brake system. What a waste. The better hybrids take advantage of this potential for energy savings by having an independent generator on each wheel to use electric back torque to stop the car and then provide the generated electricity to the battery.

So my conclusion, is that one way to save fuel is to brake less. Ronnie and I have been doing this a lot in the truck we share. Coasting basically means letting off on the gas much sooner than normal before a stop or a turn. I was able, on my motorcycle to take my mileage from 50 mpg to 69 mpg just through coasting.

TBL - Give it a try.