this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2024
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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!
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.