Driving smarter can greatly reduce your fuel use, saves
money and reduces your carbon footprint. Faced with a fuel strike it will also
help you last longer between top ups.
For someone
spending roughly £50 a week on fuel, an equivalent 20% efficiency increase
would save around £500 a year. So how much was your pay rise this year?
It is possible
to drive the same distance in the same time, yet use considerably less fuel, chopping
up to 30% OFF your fuel costs without cutting your top speed. It's simply about
driving more smoothly to boost your fuel efficiency. Driving smoothly will also
significantly cut your CO2 emissions.
·
Accelerate gradually without
over-revving.
Speed up smoothly. When you press harder on the pedal
more fuel flows, but you could get to the same speed using much less power. A
good rule is to stay under 3,000 revs.
·
Drive in the correct gear.
Always drive in the highest gear possible without
labouring the engine.
·
Slow naturally.
Rather than brake all the time, let your car slow
naturally and use its stored momentum.
·
Think about your road position.
To do all this takes road awareness. The more alert
you are, the better you can plan ahead and move gradually. Keep an eye on brake
lights beyond the first car in front of you and decelerate before you have to
apply the brake yourself.
Every time you
put your foot on the accelerator, remember the harder you press, the more fuel
you are burning. Braking is reducing the momentum that you have just burned
fuel to achieve.
Just being
conscious of this, and your road position, should massively increase how far
you can drive on a tank of petrol. It's estimated someone who averages 35 miles
per gallon could reach 40 mpg by driving better.
Generally, the
faster you accelerate, the quicker you come to the next stop, and everyone else
then catches you up. Fuel consumption shoots up when you travel above 55mph. An
increase to 75mph raises fuel consumption by 20%.
If you are at
a standstill for more than 30 seconds it is more efficient to turn your engine
off and re-start it.
Additional
savings can be made by addressing the following:
·
Keep your tyres inflated.
Lower tyre pressure increases the drag on a car, meaning
you need more fuel, so regularly check the pressures are correct and your car
needs less oomph to keep it moving.
·
De-Clutter your car.
The lighter your car is, the less effort it needs to
accelerate. By de-cluttering, clearing out junk from the boot, and not carrying
unnecessary weight, you can make extra savings.
·
Take your roof rack off.
A roof rack, even unused, adds massive wind resistance to
a car, increasing drag and making the engine work harder. So if you don't need
it, take it and anything else that's inefficient off. Even closing the windows
will make the car run slightly more efficiently. If you have a bike rack on top
you might as well be dragging a small parachute.
·
Don't fill it up.
In an ideal world you would run your tank to a safe
minimum and top up regularly in small amounts. Fuel is heavy, so by filling the
car up you're adding quite a weight. The less fuel your car has in it, the more
efficiently it drives. As your fuel level decreases you get
the benefits. Here’s hoping you can outlast the strike.
·
Keep your
car tuned regularly.
A poorly tuned engine can use up to 50% more fuel.
And finally, do
you need to drive?
Save 100% on your
fuel costs by walking or cycling
