Normally when coming home from work I get stuck by three red lights, a few days ago the lights were all green, a fourth is always red and this day was no different.  I achieved 80 MPG on my commute home that night, where the best I typically can achieve is 70-73 MPG. 

After those lights I have a commute that is nearly all highway miles, a nearly perfect scenario for the 2006-2010 Honda Civic Hybrid.

This is why we teach conservation of kinetic energy with such relentlessness in all of the Hybrid and Hypermiling clubs.  It is easier to keep your car in motion, even if it is only 15 miles an hour, versus accelerating from a complete stop.  So if I see a yellow light I either can’t make or where making the light would be a stretch, I won’t speed up to it, I’ll coast up to the light as it turns red.  If I time everything right and it is a light I’m familiar with, I can arrive at the stop bar exactly when the light turns green and I can continue without having to stop!  (In South Carolina it is very important to check for red-light runners before you proceed though.)

Remember, it isn’t necessary to use all of the hypermiling techniques when starting, it is adding all these little techniques together that brings us to the huge MPG numbers we achieve.  

Don’t be shy, post a comment!

Kacey Green  
for the Midlands Hybrid Club, "Choose green personal transportation."  The Midlands Hybrid Club, is the home of the hybrid and hypermiling club of the Carolinas, based in Columbia, SC.

I’ve had some readers ask what hybrids I have available for sale.

To find out more, note the number of the car that you are interested in, then click the call me button on the right side of this page.

Kacey Green

My fuel economy, tracked at every fill-up since purchase, your mileage will vary.

Pre-Owned

New

2009 Honda Civic Hybrid

2010 Honda Insight

On March 31, 2009, the Honda FCX Clarity was in Columbia for the Hydrogen Expo, I was invited to get behind the wheel. I used (right up until the start of this calendar year) to feel that Hydrogen was a wasted effort, but when you exclude hydrogen combustion cars and only look at fuel cell vehicles like the Clarity and its “competitors” you see an encouraging development. (To date none of the competition is available to the general public; the Clarity is available to normal people in limited volume and geography)

A fuel cell car to me is an Electric Vehicle (EV) but instead of having a large battery that charges from a grid connection, it makes its energy on the fly from an onboard hydrogen supply. A plug-in EV is great for around town, but they do not currently fast-fill practically for long trips. A hydrogen vehicle fills very similarly to the way a compressed natural gas vehicle does, and quick fills are very practical. If the hydrogen is produced from clean supplies rather than fossil fuels, they make great long range EVs, once there is a widespread fueling network like the one we currently have for gasoline.

  Midlands Honda now has a 2007 TCH in stock!  This vehicle was a trade-in, the customer purchased an Accord.  As the pictures show the previous owner had 39.0 MPG showing on the gauges, I was able to peg the Gauge over 40 MPG for the whole 9 mile test drive.  It still drives smoothly and uses all of its functions normally (running off the battery, charging idling in EV mode, driving in EV mode and the A/C blows cold).

This car would be great for someone with a predominantly city commute or lots of stop and go driving it can also handle occasional highway trips without falling behind the flow (though if you lead-foot it fuel economy will suffer)