Wayne explains more, courtesy of Ford Motor Company

I have to admit–when I think of driving on the George Washington Parkway, fuel efficiency isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. I think more of the feel of the car rolling along the gentle hills and curves, of sneaking glances out at the river and up at the thick green web of leaves, and of blasting the music.

But last Saturday, I got to experience the parkway from a whole new perspective. The crew from the 1,000 Mile Challenge was in town, attempting to eke 1,000 miles from a single tank of gas in a Ford Fusion Hybrid, and world record hypermiler Wayne Gerdes was giving driving lessons.

The idea behind hypermiling is that the way you drive can greatly affect your gas mileage, and that by using special driving techniques you can coax more mileage out of each gallon of gas. Wayne and the Challenge team proved this point nicely. The Challenge began on Saturday morning at Mt. Vernon, with team members driving the Challenge car round the clock. That one tank finally ran out at 1,446 miles.

Meanwhile, I hopped in a replica with Wayne, PR maven Nicole, and a guest from Earth911.com to find out how hypermiling works. Continue reading →