May 20, 2008 8:41 am US/Pacific
Driving Team Attempts 800 Mile Ride On Single Tank
(CBS)
The highest average gas price in the land happens to be in Chicago at the moment -- $4.07 a gallon.
And that's the city from which The Early Show dispatched two drivers on a trip to New York -- contributor Benno Schmidt and Wayne Gerdes of CleanMPG.comCleanMPG.com.
Gerdes champions "hypermiling," which he says can as much as double your gas mileage.
Gerdes and his team hold the world record -- 2,250 miles in a single tank, which worked out to 164 miles per gallon.
He and Schmidt were both driving Toyota Priuses, but Gerdes was going to try to make the 800 mile trip on -- one tank of gas, by hypermiling it. Schmidt was going to drive "the old-fashioned" way.
On the show on Tuesday, they compared data.
Schmidt made it with only one fill-up. He hit the Big Apple after 14 hours of driving and almost 20 gallons of gas, having averaged 45 mpg.
Gerdes took a little longer -- 17 hours -- but only used 8.9 gallons, for an average of 71 mpg.
So, he did it -- going 800 miles on less than his 12-gallon tank held.
On The Early Show Monday, Gerdes explained the secrets of hypermiling to CBS News correspondent Bianca Solorzano.
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