this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2024
716 points (95.3% liked)
People Twitter
5268 readers
556 users here now
People tweeting stuff. We allow tweets from anyone.
RULES:
- Mark NSFW content.
- No doxxing people.
- Must be a tweet or similar
- No bullying or international politcs
- Be excellent to each other.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Also, following a truck will increase your mpg.
And not because of the lower air pressure zone behind the truck; you have to get dangerously close for that.
Truckers spend a fuck ton on fuel, so they have a huge vested interest in driving efficiency. My highway mpg rating is 27mpg, but I got 38mpg on an hour drive by chilling a safe distance behind a semi. It only added like 5 minutes tops to my trip.
Exactly. Similar to how others responded to a similar comment to yours, there isn't much slipstream savings without getting into the danger zone of around 30m (100ft), which you can't get with 3 second gaps at speed.
But you do get more fuel savings from driving at that slower speed, and from coasting and accelerating lightly/cruising. It perplexes me why people alternate gunning it with braking so much on the highway.
Because big fast car go brrrrrrr!
Allowing a molecule of space in front of you at any time makes everybody late!!1
Agreed, provided you're not driving very far.
I go on several hundred mile trips almost every year (usually ~800mi), and going 10mph over the limit saves over an hour and can be the difference between making it in one day and having to get a hotel.
So I'll hang out behind semis on shorter trips (<200 miles) and speed ahead on longer trips. It costs more in gas, but I make up for it in other costs.