Hyundai Sonata Hybrid Travels 2,269 Miles Across America On Two Tanks of Gas
To help promote just how fuel efficient the new Sonata Hybrid is, the folks at Hyundai employed the expertise of hypermiler Wayne Gerdes. Known for achieving 1,445 miles on a single tank of gas in a Ford Fusion Hybrid and for traveling 1,065 miles in a Hyundai Sonata 4-cylinder, Gerdes was able to travel across America on just less than two tanks of fuel.
In total, the trip stretched 2,269.3 miles from San Diego, CA to Jekyll Island, GA – resulting in an average of 59.58 mpg. Getting 1,221.2 miles on the first tank and 1,048.1 miles on the second tank (with 2.5 gallons remaining), Gerdes far exceeded the 700 miles per tank and 40-mpg rating of the EPA.
In a statement released about the trip Hyundai was also eager to point out that the Sonata Hybrid was driven in less than ideal conditions, over mountains an on interstates. That helps to explain why the 59.58-mpg rating is less than the 66.285 mpg rating the non-Hybrid Sonata achieved.
Hit the jump to see the Sonata Hybrid in action and get a few hypermiling tips from Gerdes.
GALLERY: Hyundai Sonata Hybrid Across America
Read AutoGuide’s Review of the 2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid by Clicking Here
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With AutoGuide from its launch, Colum previously acted as Editor-in-Chief of Modified Luxury & Exotics magazine where he became a certifiable car snob driving supercars like the Koenigsegg CCX and racing down the autobahn in anything over 500 hp. He has won numerous automotive journalism awards including the Best Video Journalism Award in 2014 and 2015 from the Automotive Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). Colum founded Geared Content Studios, VerticalScope's in-house branded content division and works to find ways to integrate brands organically into content.
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Gas mileage means nothing unless you also know the speed. Aerodynamic drag varies with the cube of speed. Most people on a trip like that would go 80 mph because time is a precious commodity. However, if you were to go, say 40 mph, then 2 cubed = 8, you should get around 8 times better fuel economy. At lower extremes, parasitic losses come into play, so you can't go 1 mph and expect really good fuel economy. In addition, I disagree that the vehicle was driven in "less than ideal conditions." Far from it. It was driven in the Winter. Any other time, and that trip would require the use of the air conditioner, which would seriously drag fuel economy.
correction to what I previously wrote - aerodynamic drag increases with the cube of speed, but speed increases linearly, so fuel economy varies inversely with the square of speed. So, 40 mph versus 80 mph should get you about 4X better economy (2 squared).