Our Gas Saving Electric Scooter!

I apologize for the delay in following up on my last post, but it took a little work to get the right price on our new toy:

This is the XB-508 electric scooter made (or at least marketed by) Xtreme Scooters, a plug-in "electric bicycle".

We got it for my wife to commute to & from her work (about 2 miles away). Although it only goes 20-25 mph (depending on wind and how many people are riding it), the highest speed limit on her way to work is only 30 mph.

We wanted something that could get her to & from work without her having to get all sweaty on a bicycle, and we figured with plug-in cars on the horizon, someone has to make an electric scooter.

Apparently, they do! Xtreme Scooters seemed to have the most economical choices for what we were looking for - light duty around town. Other scooters are more powerful (closer to motorcycles) and much more expensive.

The best price we found for the model we wanted (actually the XB-500) was at Earth Scooters, but I could not get a hold of anyone there by phone, so I wasn't comfortable paying them online. The best price we found was about $725 for a new one.

We ended up paying $600 for the next model up (barely used) on Craigslist. If you use the IRS mileage rates, this represents about a 30% annual return on investment with our limited usage, even with electricity cost (which should be less than $0.005 - half of a cent - per mile).

This thing is awesome for getting around town. You can put up to two people on it (though 300 pounds is the recommended weight limit), and it has several storage compartments. It is really quiet, and it is nice to have pedals "just in case" - the pedals are not ergonomically friendly, and I would not want to use them very much!

If you are looking for a way to save money on gas around town, consider an electric scooter. Prices have gone up significantly because of increased demand, so looking at places like Craigslist are good alternatives.

One important caveat:

Make sure you know the requirements of your city/county/state for such devices. In Kansas, this cannot be tagged because it doesn't have a license, so it is up to the municipality to determine if they allow it on their roads. I have heard of a nearby town that does not, and someone who had already bought one was out of luck.

Saving Money on Gas - Gas Rebate Credit Cards

Due to the popularity of the "Improving Gas Mileage" series, I wanted to touch on a couple of other things you can do to decrease your gasoline (or diesel) expenditures.

Today we are focusing on Gas Rebate Credit Cards.

There are a number out there that have special deals on gasoline purchases (which also apply to diesel, I am pretty sure). For a great summary of the available deals, check out:

http://www.creditcardwatcher.com/gascards/

I'd like to highlight a couple in particular because they fit very nicely with my previous post improving gas mileage with TOP TIER fuel.


TOP TIER Gasoline Rebate Cards

Shell Platinum Mastercard - 5% at Shell stations, 1% elsewhere

The Shell Platinum Mastercard (issued by Citibank) gives you a 5% rebate on Shell gasoline purchases. One catch we noted when we signed up is that there is an annual fee if you don't use it at Shell at least 9 times per year. For us that shouldn't be a problem. For more info, click here.

ConocoPhillips Credit Card - 4% at Conoco/Phillips66/76 stations

The ConocoPhillips credit card (also issued by Citibank) gives you a 4% rebate on Conoco, Phillips66, and 76 gasoline purchases, up to $50 per month. You can check it out here.

The ConocoPhillips card has a promotion right now for 10% back for 90 days, but they cap the total rebate at $35 over the 90-day period. This may be a good deal if you don't use much gas, but if you lose a lot, you could end up getting less than with the 4% rebate. Click here for the promotion page.

Now, if you've had some bad experiences with credit cards (and if you've had one, who hasn't), you might not be willing to go this route. I encourage you NOT to get one of these cards just to save money if you (being a stronger person than I) have completely sworn of credit cards or the like. 4 or 5% back on gas is not worth a financial crisis down the road :)

Very soon (hopefully) I will be talking about an upcoming purchase we are going to make to save gas...

Improving Gas Mileage - Installment 6

We come to the last of the six today, but don't worry, this is not the end (see the bottom of the post).

Improvement #6 – Lighten Your Load

Potential savings: $0 – 78 (0 – 3% improvement)

Cost: a little time

Depending on how much junk you usually carry around in your car with you, the savings here can vary dramatically.

The Department of Energy and EPA advise that, in the average car, an extra 100 pounds can decrease gas mileage by 1-2%.

I personally think that estimate is high, but make sure you aren't carrying around more stuff than you need to. I try to never let the trash in my car get above knee level for just this reason. Just kidding, but I do try and make sure that I am not carrying extra boxes, sports equipment, etc. in my trunk if I don' t need to.

The principal is simple: the less mass you are accelerating and moving around, the less energy it takes. The benefits are more noticeable in smaller cars: the mileage in my old 4-cylinder Ford Escort was significantly lower with two extra people in the car. Those two extra people add about 10% to the car’s weight.

Depending on the vehicle (engine tuning, rolling resistance, etc.), the benefits can also vary. A 10% difference in weight might make a 3% difference in the Escort mileage but only 1% in another car. Dropping 1% of the weight (about 30 lbs) may improve mileage only 0.1-0.2%, which you probably could not even measure.

Nevertheless, carrying less weight around is easy and even a 0.1% savings can add up (about a gallon a year). Just remember not to carry around extra weight if you can avoid it!

As you probably know, it is prudent to carry some emergency supplies around with you – please don't get rid of these!

So much for the improvements. Now for some products to watch out for...

Watch Out for Gimmicks

The September 2004 issue of Consumer Reports® evaluated add-on products that bill themselves as "gas mileage improvers." Unfortunately, none of them live up to their claims. The Fuel Genie, Platinum Gas Saver, and Tornado all cost around $100 but none of them improve gas mileage.

And these aren't the only gimmicks out there...

A friend of mine from church was looking into on-board hydrogen generators where the plans run $40 up to $1000 for the complete "system". After looking at the different options, I remained unconvinced of any scientific benefit (I can give you more analysis if you want, but I don't want to bore anybody...:) ).

Southwest Research Institute (a respected third-party test lab) is actually doing research on one of them right now - so I will let you know if they find anything beneficial!

Most (if not all of these) are just gimmicks like the others that Consumer Reports tested almost 4 years ago.

With many of these products, people looking to save money on gas with these products just spent $100 or more for NOTHING. I can't believe people at those companies sleep very well at night!


Well, that's the end of the six part series, but stay tuned...

Because of the popularity of this series I will be taking a look at other ways to save money on gas that do not involve improving gas mileage in the near future.

Until then, may your gas (or diesel) bills be low!

Improving Gas Mileage - Installment 5

Almost to the end of the series of improving your gas mileage! This is the fifth of six installments, and I would love to hear any other ideas that you might be willing to share for those of us looking to save money on gas (or diesel).

Improvement #5 – “Breathe Easier” – Change Your Air Filter Regularly

Potential savings: $26 – 78 (1 – 3% improvement)

Cost: $10-20 (but you should do this anyway!)

Cost of my recommendation: $12.50 per year
($50 for AMSOIL 4-year air filter)

I vividly remember at an AMSOIL continuing education class (remember, these are oil guys) they mentioned that the air filter is by far the most important filter in the vehicle because that is where almost all of the wear particles (i.e. dust) get into the engine.

That just floored me because these are guys that make mostly oil products, not air products. That revelation has really stuck with me – I took out my K&N air filter after I learned how little filtration they actually do. Most automobile makers also now strongly discourage use of oil-wetted filters because of the potential to get oil into the MAF (mass airflow) sensor and cause engine problems.

The AMSOIL air filter filters very well and flows as good as or better than any paper filters out there, but the main advantage is the fact that it does not clog up over time.

Think about your furnace filter – you know how it can get REALLY dirty over time? The dirt particles actually clog the filter and decrease air flow (like tennis balls getting stuck in the holes in chain link fence). AMSOIL’s filter is actually really fine, more like a window screen than a chain link fence. When the “tennis balls” get caught by the AMSOIL filter, it just sits on top, and the air can still go almost completely around it.

Being able to let air flow even as it gets dirty means the fuel economy improvement can actually last longer than just the first few weeks after you change the air filter.

You will accomplish about the same fuel economy improvement (at least initially) by either changing your filter regularly or using the AMSOIL filter and cleaning it off annually. I personally prefer to use the AMSOIL filter (for the one car I have that they make one for) because of the superior engine protection – I want to take to best care of the engine that I can, especially if it doesn’t cost any more!

My Recommendation:

The AMSOIL air filter are convenient, relatively inexpensive, and filter very well. Personally, I find it much easier to do all of the maintenance once a year instead of having to remember to do things at different intervals (like every 10,000 miles – a typical change interval for air and fuel filters).

Again, you don’t have to use AMSOIL to get great results. If you bought a high-quality filter like Wix and changed it according to your manual you would get similar results (though it would cost more of your money and time…).

Improving Gas Mileage - Installment 4

Here is today's installment. You have probably heard most of these before, but these are where some of the biggest improvements can be had:

Improvement #4 – Drive More “Efficiently”

Potential savings: $26 – 525 every year (1 – 20% savings)

Cost: Changing your driving habits (some will consider this too steep a cost!)

OK, this improvement is arguably the most difficult one in the list thanks to human nature, but there might be VERY large savings here depending upon your current driving habits. You can change your driving habits in several ways to improve gas mileage:

A) Accelerate slower and decelerate slower. Accelerating and decelerating account for most of the difference between city mileage and highway mileage, which is why regenerative braking allows hybrids to get comparable mileage in the city as on the highway.

Letting off the gas so you don't push on the brake as much helps just like "feather-footing" it. Just imagine that the harder you push the accelerator or the brake, the more money you are squeezing out your tail pipe...

B) Drive slower (like the speed limit). Maximum gas mileage is achieved between 45 and 55 mph in most cars. Gas mileage drops of quickly above 55-60 mph. You can improve gas mileage 5 – 10% by going 5 mph slower on the highway. Of course that also means you get there slower. I try to go the speed limit not only because it is the right thing to do but also because it saves gas!

C) Use cruise control when possible (on the highway). Keeping speed constant gives you the best gas mileage at a given speed.

D) Turn your engine off when idling. If you have a modern, fuel-injected engine, you can save gas by turning it off if you will be idling over 10 seconds. Yes, you read that right – 10 seconds! That means if you just missed the stoplight, turn your car off to save gas. Someone pointed out that this could produce additional wear on the starter & solenoid. That is true, so I don't do it for 10 seconds, but definitely for longer stoplights, train crossings, etc.

E) Combining trips. Try not to make multiple trips if you can avoid it. We live in a fairly small town, so when we go to larger cities 30 miles away, we try to combine as many errands as possible.

F) Consider alternate transportation. Considering walking, riding a bike, electric scooter, carpooling, or a moped instead of car. My wife was a little shocked when I showed up at her work one day in dress clothes after riding my bike to church and then her work. I try and bike when I can to run errands around town. Of course, it also helps to live in a small town...

Drafting also helps with gas mileage, but it is generally unsafe. If you are close enough to get a significant mileage benefit, you are probably leaving less than 2 seconds between you and the car in front of you.

There are some really large benefits here, but it is not worth the risk. I look forward to automakers figuring out some automatic systems to allow us to someday safely take advantage of drafting.