Ford Should Teach Others How to Drive Hybrids

Someone from Ford should contact the government agencies that purchase their hybrids and talk to them about how to drive their new hybrid vehicles. I know they know how to get the most out of their hybrid vehicles. Now they need to make sure the people who are most likely to influence future purchases know how to, too.

Fallsnewspress.com - City saving gas with its first hybrid vehicle

Bye said he can drive on electric power nearly the entire way from the Municipal Building on Second Street to the Electric Department on Bailey Road, a little more than a mile.

"I can go down Oakwood, turn on Front Street, get my speed up, back off the pedal a little bit and let it drop into electric and just feather it and keep it there almost all the way to work," Bye said.

"But if you got to pass somebody or you got to go up a little bit of a grade and you're pulling a little bit, then it goes back up into gas." The car will run on electric power until reaching approximately 23 mph when the four-cylinder gasoline engine kicks in, Carr said.

It's no wonder the guy in this story is getting just 22 mpg.  Driving on all electric may seem like a good idea, but that just guarantees you've drained the battery pack.  That means you're going to have to drive with all gas on the way home, killing your fuel economy. 

Hypermiling is a skill you can learn.  Driving a hybrid can be just like driving gas only cars.  But if you really want to get more out of it, there are simple techniques you can use to enhance your fuel sipping power.