I’ve been asked a few times if I actually need a Scangauge. Some people have thought that owning an already fuel efficient vehicle would negate the value of such an investment. Not the case… Having a fuel economy computer like the Scangauge during The 100 MPG Challenge would have yielded better fuel economy results.

In my 30+ day drive from Victoria to Labrador and back, I managed 3.63 L/100 km, but the target was actually 3.5… and with a Scangauge, I think I could have come in at 3.3 - a whole 10% better. Knowing the engine load on hills and having access to instant fuel consumption readouts would have enabled changes, and effected better performance.

Well, all that aside…. if you missed it, you can hear the CBC Hypermiling interview from July 28th, here. (Warning - It is a large 21 mb file, best to save it and then open in iTunes perhaps.) You might also like to visit cleanmpg to learn more about hypermiling.

Update: July 17th

ConsumerAffairs.com in the United States has published a thorough warning against the water4gas scam. The false and misleading information supplied by the water4gas proponents is very quickly going to get known as just what it is…

I really didn’t want to have to deal with this subject so suddenly, but repeated requests for info about ‘running your car on water’ or making ‘HHO’ aka ‘Brown’s Gas’ has prompted it.

The BCSEA e-mail list for discussion on energy topics has seen ‘water4gas’ get a respectable quantity of bytes. And on the way to Global TV on Monday I heard a guy from the Vancouver Gadgeteers on CBC Radio talk about a ‘water-hybrid’. I think the host Stephen Quinn knew something was hokey. The Gadgeteers were hosting two water4gas clinics in Vancouver Monday night.

Not stopping there… a customer of mine who had ordered a Scanguage, and a Service Advisor from a large company a friend works for are just two people in the last 24 hours that I have learned have bought the water4gas books. The Climate Action Dividend isn’t going to much good use it would seem?

So I sifted the internet for a good smackdown.

Here is ‘The proof that HHO is a scam’. It’s long, it might even be boring. But it is detailed. With rebuttals and counter-rebuttals. Lots of links and some scientific explanations. Make sure you read ‘A Reply to the HHO Scammers’ as well.

You could also check out a Discovery Channel ‘Mythbusters Forum’ discussion.

And oddly enough, the main online marketeer of the water4gas ’scam’, Ozzie Freedom, well, he used to promote a website called ‘magnet4cash.com’, which, get this, now refers you to…. water4gas.com!! (And yes, there is a reason I don’t provide ‘clickable links’ to internet detritus, but feel free to check it our for yourself.)

As an aside, I have been suggested to ready a lengthy article on the world of fuel savings devices… all the things that DON’T work. Soon… but in the meantime, remember, you hold the key to better mileage. Please see my ‘Hypermiling for better fuel economy’ article for some basic things you can do to go further on fuel.

I can get 100 mpg because I’ve started with an already fuel efficient vehicle, and then added driving techniques and real-time monitoring with a Scangauge fuel economy computer to the mix.

One last point…

Why are there water4gas ads on my pages from time to time?

I’m going to quote Bruce Simpson aka Aardvark (who wrote the articles on the HHO scam).

Yes, it’s kind of ironic isn’t it? I don’t get to choose which advertisements Google places on these pages but I do get a kick out of knowing that the very people who seek to scam you are helping pay for the pages that expose their fraud.

Don’t buy internet ’scams’. Save your money for slippers - driving with a feather foot could REALLY save you some fuel.

Keith

Contact me by e-mail.