What is fuel economy?
Fuel economy is directly related to how much energy it takes to move a given amount of weight. In vehicles, the two most common ways to measure fuel economy are miles per gallon (MPG) and litres per 100 km. Obviously larger numbers for MPG indicate better fuel economy. Smaller numbers for litres per 100 Km is the goal.
There are a few factors that determine fuel economy. One factor is the size and shape of your vehicle. The larger the vehicle, the more fuel it uses. Once you have chosen your, there's not much that you can do about the size and shape of your car, so lets move on to some more factors.
With fuel prices souring in 2022, it's important to look at ways to reduce fuel costs.
The way you drive will affect fuel economy. This post will go into some driving style factors that affect fuel economy.
Car maintenance will also affect how much fuel your car uses. Having your engine running efficiently and tire pressures set correctly are major factors in fuel usage.
We care about fuel economy because it affects wallet and our environment. Using less fuel helps us conserve resources, reduce emissions and save money.
Fuel-efficient driving techniques.
If you want to save money and reduce emissions, here are some tips to help you do just that.
Accelerate gently.
Acceleration is one of those things most people don't think about much. But it actually makes a difference when you accelerate less aggressively. Driving smoothly means keeping your speed steady and smooth. Sometimes we get in a rut of breaking too aggressively, then needing to accelerate more as well. Having more awareness of traffic signs and signals, as well as other drivers, may help to drive more smoothly.
Coast to decelerate.
Coasting doesn’t mean driving without brakes. It simply means slowing down enough to reduce your speed without having to apply the brakes. This allows you to save gas and reduce wear and tear on your vehicle.
When you are aware of traffic and the need to slow down, you can slow down earlier. Slowing down earlier reduces the wear and tear on your brakes, but also can mean that you are still moving when the light turns green, thus reducing the amount of acceleration needed. Driving this way often means that you need to accelerate from a complete stop less often.
Anticipate traffic.
Anticipating traffic can make a big difference in saving time and fuel. If you widen your gaze and look further ahead in traffic, you will notice the need to slow more often. It may be an intersection, a red light, an animal on the road, a slow car or an accident. If you practice widening your gaze and noticing more, you can drive more smoothly and benefit from less need for acceleration and driving with unnecessary speed.
Maintain a steady speed
Using the above strategies ultimately helps you to maintain a steady speed as much as possible. It's beneficial to maintain a steady speed on the open road wherever possible. If your car has cruise control, you may use that to help maintain a steady highway speeds.
More ways to use less fuel
Having you care well maintained, and tyre pressure optimized will go a long way to improving fuel efficiency. Reducing unnecessary weight in the vehicle, reducing wind resistance, using fuel additives and the obvious one, driving less, also help to reduce fuel usage.
Car maintenance.
Being up to date with servicing your vehicle will improve the efficiency of fuel using, while also improving performance.
The most important thing you can do to keep your vehicle running smoothly is change your air filter regularly. A dirty air filter reduces power and increases emissions. Air filters are inexpensive and easy to replace. If you don’t know how to replace an air filter, here’s what you need to know.
Keep tyre pressures optimized.
Underinflated tires are dangerous because they reduce tire life and increase fuel consumption. They also cause you to lose control of your vehicle. It's a simple and effective way to reduce fuel usage.
Don't carry unnecessary weight
If you want to save money on gas, it might be worth considering what kinds of items you're carrying around. A lot of people are adding extra pounds to their vehicles because they don't realize how much weight certain things add to their cars.
Remove roof or bicycle racks
Most people don't think about how much weight and wind resistance is added when a rack is placed on the roof of a vehicle. When you are not using the rack, consider removing it.
Use air conditioning sparingly
Air conditioners consume a lot of energy. You should only turn them on when necessary. If your car has climate control, consider increasing the set temperature a little, so that it's comfortable, but not working too hard.
When you need to use the AC, make sure you use the recirculation mode. Recirculating the air allows the air to circulate around your vehicle, with less cool air leaving the vehicle, and less work need to be done by the AC to cool down the air.
Opening the windows isn't a great option either. That can increase the wind resistance and require more energy to maintain your vehicle's speed.
Track your fuel consumption
Most cars have a fuel economy tracker built in. It's worthwhile at least being aware of how well the factors mentioned in this post contribute to reducing gas usage. Another simple way is to retain the receipt when you fill up your tank. You can enter the details into a smartphone app that will track miles per gallon or litres per 100 km for you.
Drive less
It may seem obvious, but how hard do we really try to drive less? Each gallon of gas not used is one you don't have to pay for. There are a few things you may be able to try to reduce driving. Thins such as carpooling, walking for short trips and working from home more often if you can. You can also try to combine trips into one where possible.
Use a modern fuel additive such as GOVVI
Govvi has recently brought organometallic technology to the everyday consumer. It seems to be the leader in improving mileage while raising the octane in gasoline and the cetane in diesel fuel. Other features of Govvi are that it is a catalyst for a more complete clean fuel burning in the combustion chamber, as well as a fuel stabilizer. Users are reporting everywhere form 5% to 20% improvement in fuel economy. With 2022 prices, that's a significant saving.
