Update: May Experiment
By Karina | May 19, 2008
Two weeks ago I posted that I was going to try a May Experiment to try to drive the speed limit and see what kind of mileage I got. Looking back at the previous months, when I averaged the miles per gallon I’d been getting for March and April of 2008 it was approximately 58.2 mpg. Which is not that great for a car that should easily be getting over 60 mpg on the highway (which is where I do most of my driving). And I really wanted to improve that — mostly, to be honest, because I wanted to put my 60+ mpg bumper sticker onto my car. I have some interesting results to report just two weeks in! In the spirit of ME having to look at graphs and tables every day at work, here YOU go: Check out this Awesome Data!
Look at how great my mileage is, just from the simple change of driving the speed limit! My average mpg this month is up to 67.3, which is TOTALLY AWESOME. And, like, a 15% improvement over the data from the previous two months. That’s huge!
And here, check out this very scientific graph:
You can see how my mileage has improved - the shaded area shows the May Experiment data. Now, my mileage was going up anyway, that’s really obvious, and probably in part a function of the warmer temperatures. But when I’m paying attention to the speed limit it goes up way more!
And here is the reading from my trip meter. When I started the experiment I zeroed this, and as of Sunday night, this is what it read:
So, in the last 2 weeks I’ve driven 1,537 miles at an average of 65.3 mpg, according to the car. Now, here’s an interesting point - I wrote above that my average mpg was 67.3 - that’s taking the average from the values in the table. Here’s an anecdote. I got into an argument with a coworker who is “a diesel guy” and staunchly, it seems, anti-hybrid. I was explaining to another coworker how hybrids work, and how my gas mileage has increased so dramatically since I started driving the speed limit. He interrupted and argued that the readings on the hybrid cars (like my trip meter above) were skewed, and that they always averaged high and that they couldn’t be trusted. I don’t think he expected me to tell him that I keep my own records and that actually I’ve found that there is a +/- 0.5 to 2% error for each tank of gas… but then, you can’t really out-dork an engineer, can you?
I can’t wait to see what else will happen this month. It was a little hard at first to drive the speed limit, but now it’s not THAT hard. I still slip, but I try very hard to keep it within 5 miles of the limit. Sometimes I catch myself cruising along at 55 mph when the speed limit is 65, though! (Don’t worry - always in the right-most lane!)
Is anyone else trying this experiment? have you noticed any results?
Topics: Transportation |
This is dorkiest lady-engineer post yet. It’s wonderful. We need more charts and graphs on TC!
oh my gosh, as long as I’m not bringing too much dork to Team Tiny Choices!
I always drive realllllllly slow, because i rarely ever drive & I have seizures. I am the person people give the finger to and are shocked to see that it’s not a tiny old lady driving my truck, but a lovely one !
Maybe all my slow driving is why i never need to pump gas but every 4-6 months.
I LOVE your charts, it’s so hardcore.
I hate when people get all ticked off! there’s no reason to flip off another driver.
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