With petrol prices going up and up due to the volatility in oil price, VAT increases and inflation, one can't be blamed for looking at how to reduce their fuel consumption. Many motorists are, in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, looking for ways to bring their fuel use down to save money and make their motoring more affordable. In this article are some tips to driving in a more fuel efficient way and techniques you can use to ensure that you don't use a drop more petrol than you have to.
To drive or not to drive?
An obvious one to start with but worth considering anyway, do you actually need to drive there? Many people use their cars to get from A to B when a 10 minute walk will achieve the same aim whilst saving you money and giving you some health-boosting exercise. Next time you want to pop down the shops, ask yourself, 'do I really need to drive there?'. You'll find that many journeys you made before this analysis of your driving behaviour were actually unnecessary and that as a result of not driving so much, your health picks up too.
Coast and Burn
A technique used by hypermilers to get the most from their petrol is called coast and burn. It's what it sounds like; one accelerates then removes their foot from the accelerator. The car will carry itself forward with it's momentum whilst it's in gear. Unlike 'normal' driving though, the time the car spends coasting on the momentum built up from acceleration uses no fuel. This is because the accelerator pedal tells the car's fuel injection system when to feed fuel to the engine. When the pedal is pressed, fuel is injected into the engine, when the pedal is left alone, no fuel is used. This can be considered free movement as the car still moves but it isn't using fuel. This only works if you don't have the clutch pedal down. The momentum of the car drives the engine but when the clutch is down, the engine still uses fuel. Continuing this cycle of coasting and burning can save you quite a bit of fuel over the course of a month. It also gives you a better appreciation of the speed at which you're travelling as you need to keep burning and coasting to ensure a decent average speed.
Coast to a stop
This one doesn't really have a name, it's more of an awareness of how you drive. It's a technique used when approaching a junction/ stop sign/ traffic lights/ etc and it's about letting the car coast along in gear with no pedals depressed so you roll up to one of the afore mentioned areas from cruising speed to a stop. This gives you 300/400 yards of free travel as the momentum of the car carries you forward as you slow down but unlike the coast and burn technique, the objective is to stop. Again, if no pedals are pressed, the wheels drive the engine and the movement uses no petrol.
Hopefully these techniques are useful to you in cutting your motoring bills.
