Changing Driving Habits to Save Fuel

The EPA is required to state gas mileage information on the window sticker of each brand new vehicle. This information is also available on the Internet on the EPA website where fuel mileage information is available for every car sold in America. Until recent time the EPA gas mileage statistics were inflated to display a better gas mileage than what is actually realized. In recent time, the numbers have been reduced to show a much more accurate reading of fuel mileage, but people’s driving habits are also a major factor in determining gas mileage.

Starting from a dead stop is when a car uses the most fuel due to the rolling resistance of the wheels coupled with the weight of the vehicle. When coming to a stop at a red light, avoid coming to a complete stop and try to keep some of the forward momentum in the vehicle. The inertia of the car will require less fuel to accelerate the car up to desired driving speed.

To promote inertia, keeping a safe driving distance from the person in front of you will limit braking and also put the driver in a safer position on the road. The energy created by the burning of gasoline to achieve the desired speed is completely lost when braking. The momentum is converted into heat energy and completely lost from the vehicle. In order to speed up again, gasoline must be burnt, therefore maintaining a safe distance allows the car to keep more of the momentum it creates.

Freeway mileage is where a car experiences the best gas mileage due to the constant unwavering speed. Sudden and quick acceleration bursts are a drain on the gas tank, therefore maintaining a constant speed on surface streets or on the freeway is where the engine is most efficient. The best method is to simply not drive, but how can this be accomplished when we have become so attached to our cars?

Planning trips in advance around traffic patterns and through the use of a GPS cut down mileage and can engineer a trip to keep the vehicle at a constant speed, thus earning the best fuel mileage possible when travelling on road trip or on the daily commute.

When commuting or running errands away from the home, try and drive to a central location and walk or use a bike the rest of the way. This cuts down on the time spent in traffic finding a parking place, not to mention the starting and stopping of an engine which uses an exorbitant amount of fuel.

If several people are commuting to one central location, carpooling is a tried and true method that will alternate the driving burden between carpoolers and save money spent on gasoline.

People are notorious for storing large amounts of junk inside their car, but how much of these things are actually necessary? Travelling for a long trip is one thing, but the majority of the objects in our cars have not been used in months and many times people simply lose things in their car. The extra weight of these extraneous objects adds up and put a higher strain on the engine. This causes the engine to use more fuel per mile.

Common sense and planning trips with fuel economy in mind will save fuel, while maintaining the convenience of vehicular transportation.