Installing a ScanGauge is a gas, gas, gas

My ScanGauge arrived today from Gifford Automotive in Ottawa (thanks Tom!) and the set up was really quite easy. If you didn’t read my last post, I’m preparing an article on “hypermiling” for MoneySense magazine.

In a nutshell, hypermiling is about modifying your driving habits to gain real fuel savings. The ScanGauge is a device that plugs into your vehicle’s nerve centre via the OBD2 port found under the dash on the driver’s side of most vehicles. Once hooked up, the gauge can monitor your fuel economy in real time and even calculate how much money your vehicle is burning as you drive.

Hypermilers love this little gadget, which is priced at $170 CDN, because it forces you to watch your money as it burns through the engine. There’s real motivation in seeing your actual fuel economy numbers and not the rosy Transport Canada or EPA numbers.

My plan is to use the ScanGauge to track my fuel economy is my fuel-thirsty Chevy Venture over a couple days of routine driving. After that, it’s off to the garage for an oil change into a synthetic blend, proper inflation of the tires and trying my hand at various hypermiling techniques to max out my fuel savings.

After just one day, I’m averaging about 12.4 litres/100 km, which is just a little heavier than the official fuel rating for my vehicle of 12.0 L/100 km. I’m doing my best to drive as if the ScanGauge isn’t telling how much fuel I’m wasting, but it’s hard not to notice those numbers climbing.

I’ll write more about my experiences and the features of the ScanGauge in my next post. Until then, happy motoring.

Can hypermiling really save on fuel costs?

In a couple days time I will be taking delivery of a Scangauge trip computer from a Canadian reseller of this U.S. device. My goal is to test the practice of hypermiling by tracking real-time fuel consumption in my 2004 Chevy Venture van. The results will be published in MoneySense magazine after a few thorough runs at normal driving and using various hypermiling tactics.

For anyone not familiar with hypermiling, it is a growing movement whereby drivers use a variety of tactics to reduce their fuel consumption. One U.S. resident claims to double his fuel economy by using such simple tricks as coasting, shutting off his engine at red lights and using his brakes as little as possible.

Some hypermiling tactics, however, can be dangerous and my article will also feature words of wisdom from safety experts and mechanics. But my hope is that I can find some middle ground where effective and safe use of hypermiling strategies will allow to boost fuel efficiency enough to blunt the pain at the pumps I’m currently experiencing.

If hypermiling can really deliver the gas savings it promises, then perhaps those of us who can’t spring for a new hybrid can still save money and feel better about our ecological footprint.

I’ll keep this blog updated as my experiment progresses. Stay tuned…

Scangauge