So I’ve been “Hypermiling” for some time now… and I must say, there just might be something to this whole thing. In fact, I have not noticed as ‘much’ of a gain in MPG as some claim because my driving habits sort of naturally evolved into taking advantage of some of the techniques spun around the web.

I usually get about 46-52 MPG on average in my Prius (before hypermiling) since I purchased it back in September 2006 (one of those version II types of Prius that Toyota upgraded - thankfully).

Now, since I’ve been following some of the techniques for the hypermiling specifically geared towards my make/model of Prius… I’ve experienced significant increases in MPG. Not so much the first couple of weeks, but after my first month, I learned and discovered the many ’sweet’ spots for my particular Prius with regards to implementing various hypermiling techniques.

Here’s a screenshot of my Prius’ dash panel. Notice, I’ve driven over 151 miles on this tank and the LEDs have not moved from full.

UPDATE: 6/26/08 I’m still on the same tank at 480+ miles and the LEDs indicate HALF the tank is still full.  Normally, I’d be looking for a gas station right about now.

Often, the first LED tick does not shave off until around 184 miles driven or so. Given the mechanics of how the car determines the amount of gas per LED is frankly stupid and completely non-representative of actual gas remainage, I usually get any where between 770 to 930 miles to a single tank of 11 gallons of gas (currently priced at $4.00 a gallon here in Dallas, Texas = $44 bucks to fill up about every 3 weeks or so with my normal driving routes).

At the end of my trips, my battery is usually depleted more substantially than when ‘not’ hypermiling. Here’s a screenshot below of today’s end of the trip Energy Monitor status.

Half of the battery is charged, after traveling 42 total miles today to and from Downtown Dallas and my home (you guessed it, about 21 miles south of Dallas). Where I live is 500 feet higher than Downtown Dallas. Therefore, going in to work… I received 95.5 MPG this morning heading in to work. I did not reset my Energy Monitor, and drove home a couple of hours ago… Total results? See below!

This is literally from inside my garage parked, to Downtown Dallas… up 4 levels of the Parking Garage (the parking garage is completely brutal on fuel efficiency by the way), then down the 4 levels of the parking garage and back home to inside my garage.

When I actually arrived in Downtown Dallas this morning, I was literally at 99.9 MPG - my first ever true 20+ mile trip when I experienced over 100+ MPG! After I went up 4 levels in the parking garage - my average dropped way down to 95.5 MPG. I wish I knew how to hypermile upwards inside the parking garage making like 12 left turns and steep inclines?!?!

Some notes on how I achieved this:

• A/C was off - I know, it was 93F today, and even hotter in my car - yikes, nothing like a warm breeze to cool you off
• I utilized nearly all of the hypermiling techniques EXCEPT for drafting scenarios and of course turning my car off in places you should not…like when you are actually driving - no need to in a Prius though
• Getting a feel for upcoming stops, timing lights, and traffic etc.
• Paying very close attention to other drivers around me, especially behind me, and always yielding to the right side of the road like an old Grandpa driver

Bottom Line: I drove 42 miles and received 88.5 MPG for just today’s required driving. Simply amazing. I have consistently achieved high 70’s MPG and often around 85 MPG on average in my first week after my first month of practicing hypermiling.

There just might be something to this stuff.

I just finished up on a super cool and rather impressive project the AT&T Real Yellow Pages “Real Challenges” Sweepstakes where you could win up to $50,000 or smaller prizes of $5,000.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE…
 
 

Tonight, I had the honor and privilege to film an interview with Dumarsais Mécène Siméus (A.K.A. Dumas Siméus) at the Trammell and Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art.

Dumas’ story is amazing and this fellow businessman from Texas once ran for the Haitian Presidency. He is a strong advocate for stopping the Haitian poverty, violence, chaos, and tyranny. Some interesting documents and letters about the subject had circulated back in 2005 and 2006.

The fund raising event for The Chiapas Project was sponsored by my good friends over at Joseph Noble Incorporated. You can watch the captivating and emotional 15 minute interview by clicking the image below.

Joseph Noble put on an amazing fund raising event and there was a substantial turnout.

The Chiapas Project is a worth another look.

I just finished up a motion graphics video ad American Airlines aa.com is mobile… to be displayed on the Nokia Theatre Marquee in Times Square, New York City. One may now book flights, perform a flight check in and enter a sweepstakes amongst many other nifty things… all from their mobile device while on aa.com.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE…
 
 

I’m thinking about one of these all-electric hybrid cars… cost is a factor, along with safety. I’m leaning towards the sports car.

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I just finished creating & developing a new Flash Case Study Application. Pretty nifty little application that runs both online and stand-alone. Users can easily configure all aspects of the application by editing an XML file and tweaking some .psd templates for building images and thumbs etc.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE…