I left Abbotsford at 9 am BC time, after having a quick breakfast with John Vissers and filling up. I made good time to Kamloops on the Coquihalla - average speed 97 kmh - and stopped briefly at the Mercedes-Benz dealer right off of the highway. I filled up in Revelstoke, and then the road conditions became trying at times, with construction and poor asphalt in many different stretches. I was driving some sections in first gear behind transports… not exactly economical. Still - averaging under 4.0 through the Rocky Mountains is pretty good.

I made it to Calgary right on time - 9 pm. I was lucky - the Hwy was closed in Golden - so I pulled off for a bit to review distances on the laptop for the longer detour route. Then, just as I was going to take the detour, a fellow biodiesel user pulled along side and we chatted - and I learned the highway had just reopened. So I didn’t lose the two hours afterall.

The drive from Banff to Calgary went really quick, with average speed close to 110 kmh. I drafted a semi part of the way. I’m certainly not setting any economy records on this part of the trip (nor am I trying to). I was flashing the 5.0 litre warning at 401 kms when I arrived in Calgary.

I’ll be spending a couple days now with friends. We have a rendezvous in Cochrane on Saturday with fellow smart car owners.

Fuel Report

Abbotsford to Revelstoke: 490 kms
3.7 L/100km
76 mpg (imp)
64 mpg (US)

Average speeds from GPS:
97 kmh (Abbotsford to Kamloops)
87 kmh (Kamloops to Revelstoke)

Temperature ranged from 15 to 24 celsius throughout the day.

You can contact 100mpg.ca by e-mail.

Well, here it is, one year after I first had the idea to take the One-Tonne Challenge across Canada via the 100 MPG Challenge.

My personal goal of achieving better than 100 mpg (imperial) was met - in fact, I achieved better than 100 mpg on five tanks during the 16,344 km journey:

113 mpg
Prince Albert to Yorkton

111 mpg
Brandon to Moosomin

106 mpg
Massey to Mitchell

104 mpg
Sydney to St Johns

101 mpg
Penticton to Hope

And all of this was done while being fully loaded, with about 275 lbs of luggage in the car.

I’m heading out for a new challenge in two days. I’ll be leaving for Calgary on Friday morning, loaded up with 40 litres of biodiesel courtesy of Cascadia Biofuels.

From Calgary, after enjoying some time off with friends and fellow Club smart Car members, I’ll be heading into Saskatchewan, in search of an even greater economy record - 100 miles per US gallon. That’s a mere 2.35 L/100km or 120 mpg imperial.

With my previous best being 94 mpg US (113 mpg imperial), I’ll actually need to improve by 6.4% - and there are a few things I am doing that may help this.

First - I am dropping the cargo - it will be me and the car. (And no, not in silk underwear, John!) That’s 16% less weight to move, which might equate to 3-4% economy gain at highway speed.

I will also travel station to station with no stops - a luxury I couldn’t afford last year when I was passing by new places only once. That might gain me another 1%.

I will boost my tire PSI another 2-3, setting it just short of the maximum recommended pressure - this should gain me a solid 1% more.

And lastly, I have cruise control, which if used sparingly, might gain me another half a percent.

The really interesting part is that I will be running with about 80% biodiesel on up to two attempts - Cascadia Biofuels has already supplied me with a soy based biodiesel - I picked up two 20L pails yesterday. Hopefully their printer will also have some temporary graphics for the car before I leave.

The biodiesel will be added to my fuel tank first, and then I’ll top off with petroleum diesel to ensure the tank is filled to capacity. For these attempts, I will also be utilizing GPS to verify the precise distance travelled. And all this extra attention to detail is because I think it’ll be really really close.

By the way, yes, the car has been ‘unwrapped’. I peeled the One-Tonne Challenge graphics off on April 28th - literally. They came off no problem in the hot sun. I did leave the roof graphics on though - for the summer - to keep the car cooler withoutn using a/c. I’m still pondering opportunities to use the vehicle as an advertising medium for another year. Hopefully the right project will come along.

Here’s what the car looks like now, and note - fasteddy supplied me with some wider wheels recently, called corelines. They improve the handling and eliminate the understeer on the smart, although I am running with my skinnier sportlines on this upcoming trip.

I’ll be returning to BC around June 20th, and will certainly post pictures and results while on the road. Wish me well, and drive smart. Thanks to ‘envirogenny’ for taking care of Chloe.