John and Helen Taylor, the Australian hypermilers who made news in the United States in 2009 by averaging 3.46 L/100km (67.9 mpg) in a tour of the 48 contiguous states, recently added another record to their considerable tally.
The couple from Melbourne, Australia has set a new record of : 2 601 km (1 626 miles) on a single tank of fuel using a 2012 Volkswagen Passat TDI SE with a six-speed manual transmission. Though VW claim extra urban fuel consumption of 5.4 L/100km, Taylors managed to eek out an amazing 2.8 L/100km using their own hypermiling techniques. The new record is a 159 km improvement over the old one, set in Europe with a previous-generation diesel Passat.
The couple departed Houston, Texas on May 3 and passed through nine states and finished on May 5 in Sterling, Virginia. By Wednesday the Taylors were on a return flight home to Australia. “We drove the Passat only two days prior to the record drive and test results showed figures of 93, so we were very encouraged,” Mr. Taylor wrote in an e-mail, referencing the miles per gallon he and his wife observed in pre-drive testing. “We believed we could reach Sterling Shell Station, Va., which we managed to achieve without running out of diesel.”
To make the drive as realistic as possible, the couple included 54 kg of luggage and drove during daylight hours to experience normal traffic situations. Additionally, the couple took turns driving and didn’t travel more than 14 hours per day.
Prior to the drive, the speedometer and odometer were calibrated by a state certified testing station in Houston, Tx. Law enforcement officers from the city of Houston oversaw validation of mileage, fuel fill-up and petrol tank sealing at the beginning of the drive. A Loudoun County, Virginia Sheriff’s Deputy verified completion of the drive and mileage prior to removing the fuel tank seal.
The Taylors have made a career out of driving efficiently and conducting workshops globally on fuel-efficient driving techniques. They have collected more than 90 fuel economy and vehicle-related world records from drives around the globe.
