What have you done about fuel prices?

[drcampbell]

Originally Posted by checkthisout

... Natural gas makes a great motor vehicle fuel. When I was a kid the school districts entire bus fleet was run off of natural gas.

The one downside of using natural gas in vehicles is the size of fuel tanks. Had you looked under one of those school buses, you'd probably have seen 400 "gallons" worth of fuel tanks installed to achieve 100-mile range.

For school buses, which have the space available, operate on short, defined routes and need only one filling station, it definitely works. For the rest of us, maybe not so much.

[BigDaddyT]

I buy all kinds of fuel meisers for under 5k. Dont have to have full coverage with my fcu if its under $4999 loan. Think 99 was a good year for corolla. I cross referenced quite a few different sources to come up with that car and they are right around 5k.

[Quicksilver Ram]

I have only driven my diesel truck about 350 miles since Presidents Day Weekend, which was Feb 18. It just makes no sense to drive the truck everyday when you commute 60 miles to work.

My daily driver is a 20 year old Mazda (that was built on a assemblyline next to the Probe). The car is very reliable, the A/C blows ice cold and the car has close to 170,000 miles! The Mazda gets me about 27 mpg which isn't bad when you consider that it is turbocharged and I have a heavy right foot.

[checkthisout]

Originally Posted by drcampbell

The one downside of using natural gas in vehicles is the size of fuel tanks. Had you looked under one of those school buses, you'd probably have seen 400 "gallons" worth of fuel tanks installed to achieve 100-mile range.

For school buses, which have the space available, operate on short, defined routes and need only one filling station, it definitely works. For the rest of us, maybe not so much.

Yeah I dunno but Honda has a home refueling station that converts natural gas to hydrogen. Maybe that's a better option?

You could then link it to solar panels on your roof and of course Grid Power all working in unison.

It's kind of stupid that we have computers that are more than capable of managing these systems and the best things we use them for are playing games, tracking peoples spending habits and pornography (my favorite).

[clamgulch]

I pulled the phony roof racks off the 2000 Lexus RX300 to wash it and was too lazy to put them back on.
The mileage went up 2 mpg.

[roofeditor]

Originally Posted by checkthisout

Yeah I dunno but Honda has a home refueling station that converts natural gas to hydrogen. Maybe that's a better option?

You could then link it to solar panels on your roof and of course Grid Power all working in unison.

It's kind of stupid that we have computers that are more than capable of managing these systems and the best things we use them for are playing games, tracking peoples spending habits and pornography (my favorite).

Honda has a civic GX that compresses Natural Gas to CNG, it doesn't convert it to hydrogen which is impossible.

That said if you actually have natural gas at your home the Civic GX might be an ok choice for an around town second car. They get 36 miles per "Gallon"

They claim range is about 200 miles which for around town driving is more than enough. Obviously taking long trips is out of the question.

Natural gas BTW when you run the THERM calculation costs about $1.80 here in central Florida so it is a deal. Oil and spark plugs last for ever in the CNG burn is tremendously clean. And if ya care about these sort of things it is the cleanest car in the USA.

[roofeditor]

Originally Posted by clamgulch

I pulled the phony roof racks off the 2000 Lexus RX300 to wash it and was too lazy to put them back on.
The mileage went up 2 mpg.

I don't know if it gave 2 more mpg buy it had to help a little.

[DieselFan]

I wonder how many still "drive it like I stole it!"? I suspect many still do just from the number of people that whiz by at a high rate of speed while I'm in the right lane holding it at 60 MPH.

Changing the way one drives has to rate right up there with quitting smoking. Yet both can yield substantial returns. Heck, I can't even get my wife to slow down.

A lot of people are concerned about what high fuel prices are doing to their pocket book. What they don't realize is that with some common-sense changes to their driving habits, that they can save up 20%-30% on their fuel bill with their existing vehicle.

A couple of good links for tips...

We Test the Tips
http://www.everytime.cummins.com/eve...Whitepaper.pdf

[roofeditor]

Originally Posted by DieselFan

I wonder how many still "drive it like I stole it!"? I suspect many still do just from the number of people that whiz by at a high rate of speed while I'm in the right lane holding it at 60 MPH.

Changing the way one drives has to rate right up there with quitting smoking. Yet both can yield substantial returns. Heck, I can't even get my wife to slow down.

A lot of people are concerned about what high fuel prices are doing to their pocket book. What they don't realize is that with some common-sense changes to their driving habits, that they can save up 20%-30% on their fuel bill with their existing vehicle.

A couple of good links for tips...

We Test the Tips
http://www.everytime.cummins.com/eve...Whitepaper.pdf

We also own (12) DT-466 trucks and I am sure that @ 60 they do OK but @ 75 and 80 which is way too fast for a big truck they drop off drastically, as much as 20% and that is a LOT of fuel.

Driving RT-95 daily I'm amazed at Owner-operators driving 85 mph but at the same time complaining about fuel costs. At 85 the fuel burn is tremendously more than at 65. You don't see the JB Hunt guys doing this, they have GPS and they track your speed and fire you if you can't understand.

We are installing trackers in all our trucks also and my brother is a putz when it comes to firing people but trust me I'm not at all.

Same for planes, the faster you go the more fuel you burn and it's also pretty drastic.

[fullservice]

My time is worth more than a few dollars saved by going slow. If you want to save fuel keep your butt in your recliner at home. You don't get on the road to save fuel, but to go somewhere. If you want to go slow, at least get on the back roads and not on the freeways. J. B. Hunt, Swift and some more of the others are a pain, they just get in the way and cause problems. At least do the speed limit or stay home.

[DieselFan]

Originally Posted by fullservice

My time is worth more than a few dollars saved by going slow. If you want to save fuel keep your butt in your recliner at home. You don't get on the road to save fuel, but to go somewhere. If you want to go slow, at least get on the back roads and not on the freeways. J. B. Hunt, Swift and some more of the others are a pain, they just get in the way and cause problems. At least do the speed limit or stay home.

Are you a professional driver? You sound like some I know. Wished I had a nickel for every supertrucker that runs up on the back of a four-wheeler trying to intimidate them to get out of the way because they are in a hurry. Usually all this is going on right off my front bumper where the four-wheeler slides over dangerously close paying more attention to the aggressive trucker and not to my Volvo 18 wheeler loaded with 45,000# of grain. And these are the guys that always tell me to mind my own business when I call them down on the radio. The trouble is, that it is my business when they put their's, the four-wheeler's and my safety into jeopardy with their immature stunts.

In the thirty years I've been on the road, I've stopped at way too many accident sites to lend a hand, only to see what careless driving can do. The flame of life is too easily extinguished. And it's a shame to see a life end because of someone else's carelessness for whatever reason. It just ain't worth it. Speed kills and so does driving too slow. There's a happy median in there somewhere.

The companies you mention mostly hire newbies where you don't want them ripping the road up at high speeds. Companies such as these limit the top speeds for safety reasons and to lower insurance and fuel costs. It's all a balance. And with fuel hovering around $4.00, you're going to see the speeds of company trucks come down even more. Swift, Schneider, JB Hunt, etc. used to set their speeds somewhere around 60 MPH but they relaxed them a bit over the last few years, especially for drivers with a record of safe driving, allowing up to 65 MPH/70 MPH. But the cost of fuel will bring most likely bring that to an end. As I understand it, Schneider is in the process of bringing the top speeds of their trucks down.

And with fuel prices going even higher, you will continue to encounter people who back off a little to save fuel. And for someone living paycheck to paycheck, a 20%-30% drop in fuel costs could make a difference, especially if they are dropping $100 on gasoline in their old pickup every week.

Hopefully you can adjust.

[drcampbell]

Originally Posted by fullservice

My time is worth more than a few dollars saved by going slow. If you want to save fuel keep your butt in your recliner at home. You don't get on the road to save fuel, but to go somewhere. If you want to go slow, at least get on the back roads and not on the freeways. J. B. Hunt, Swift and some more of the others are a pain, they just get in the way and cause problems. At least do the speed limit or stay home.

Woo-hoo, a double feature! Illiteracy and innumeracy in one post.


limit - Definitions from Dictionary.com


Professional drivers, at least those driving Class 8 rigs, go slower to be more profitable. Their time is more valuable when they're better-disciplined drivers who do the math. Example:

60 mi/hr:
Daily billable miles: 600
Daily revenue: $750
Fuel consumption: 6 mi/gal
Daily fuel cost: $400
Gross daily profit: $350
Daily wear & tear on truck, tires, driver: 600 miles' worth

75 mi/hr:
Daily billable miles: 750
Daily revenue: $937.50
Fuel consumption: 5 mi/gal
Daily fuel cost: $600
Gross daily profit: $337.50
Daily wear & tear on truck, tires, driver: 750 miles' worth

It's just an incidental side benefit that they're safer, more relaxed at the end of the day, retain more of their hearing, buy fewer tires and their trucks last longer and depreciate less.

[BigDaddyT]

Originally Posted by roofeditor

Same for planes, the faster you go the more fuel you burn and it's also pretty drastic.

I remember an air resistance graph posted here a while back. I used that to calculate that 57 mph was the sweet spot for my vehicle. You really have to try different speeds or know your rpm sweetspot to find it but almost always the answer will be 62mph or less. Above 62 air resistance starts cutting into your fuel economy too much which is why the national speed limit was 55 mph to start with. If we want to stop importing so much oil they are going to need to cut the speed limit down again.

Part of my conspiracy theory was we peaked in suv ownage around the same time that they opened up the speed limit. Doesnt take a rocket scientist to know we are going to increase our national oil consumption by over 10%(im a pessimist and am thinking high teens and low 20s) just by adding 10mph to the speed limit. We really shot ourselves in the foot.

[roofeditor]

Originally Posted by drcampbell

Woo-hoo, a double feature! Illiteracy and innumeracy in one post.


limit - Definitions from Dictionary.com


Professional drivers, at least those driving Class 8 rigs, go slower to be more profitable. Their time is more valuable when they're better-disciplined drivers who do the math. Example:

60 mi/hr:
Daily billable miles: 600
Daily revenue: $750
Fuel consumption: 6 mi/gal
Daily fuel cost: $400
Gross daily profit: $350
Daily wear & tear on truck, tires, driver: 600 miles' worth

75 mi/hr:
Daily billable miles: 750
Daily revenue: $937.50
Fuel consumption: 5 mi/gal
Daily fuel cost: $600
Gross daily profit: $337.50
Daily wear & tear on truck, tires, driver: 750 miles' worth

It's just an incidental side benefit that they're safer, more relaxed at the end of the day, retain more of their hearing, buy fewer tires and their trucks last longer and depreciate less.

Consider the putz driving 85 on Rt 95 in Florida and trust me there are many of them. At 85 and even 90 the C/drag is tremendous, a 18 wheel with a 600 hp Cummins can do it but you are in the 4 mpg range.

And then there is/are the tires which are burning up at a much greater rate than linear because of heat build up.

The guy in his F-350 doing 85 isn't much better in my personal opinion.

[roofeditor]

Originally Posted by BigDaddyT

I remember an air resistance graph posted here a while back. I used that to calculate that 57 mph was the sweet spot for my vehicle. You really have to try different speeds or know your rpm sweetspot to find it but almost always the answer will be 62mph or less. Above 62 air resistance starts cutting into your fuel economy too much which is why the national speed limit was 55 mph to start with. If we want to stop importing so much oil they are going to need to cut the speed limit down again.

Part of my conspiracy theory was we peaked in suv ownage around the same time that they opened up the speed limit. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to know we are going to increase our national oil consumption by over 10%(I'm a pessimist and am thinking high teens and low 20s) just by adding 10mph to the speed limit. We really shot ourselves in the foot.

1. Speed
2. Weight
3. Frontal area
4. C/Drag (shape)
5. Driving style.

BTW: Jacking the truck up 5 inches it retarded, it makes the frontal area increase tremendously, and screws up handling a lot.