Want to save money on fuel? Just learning how to drive more efficiently can impact your savings at the pump, or at least how many times you have to fill up.
While expecting our third child, we realized that we needed to break down and buy a mini-van to cart everyone around. No matter how hard we tried, three car seats just wouldn’t fit across the back of our 1998 SUV. One of the pleasant surprises is that our new van, while larger, is more energy efficient.
Another surprise concerns the old SUV. My husband now drives it, and it seems like he is getting less miles to the gallon than I did. At first, this didn’t make sense, since his commute back and forth to work generally requires more highway driving, while my frequent local trips with the kids involve a lot of start and stop (city) driving. Highway driving is generally more efficient, since there is less acceleration and quick breaking.
After thinking about it a bit, I realized that driving style has a lot to do with how much gas you use. He tends to have a heavy foot on the gas and break, while I tens to glide or coast a bit more. I think this has made a difference in our gas milage.
In fact, the United States Department of Energy has some great information on how driving more efficiently can save on gas. Here are three of their top ways to save.
Driving Safely
“Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration and braking) wastes gas. It can lower your gas mileage by 33 percent at highway speeds and by 5 percent around town.” This includes observing the speed limit, since gas milage decreases rapidly after 60 mph.
When I know I’m approaching a red light, for example, I ease off of the break to coast instead of accelerating and then having to hit the break at a red light. The works for stop signs, too.
Avoiding Idling
“Idling gets 0 miles per gallon. Cars with larger engines typically waste more gas at idle than do cars with smaller engines.” Modern cars don’t need to warm up more than 30 seconds before driving. Yes, the car made feel cold when you first get in, but driving it around is a great way to warm it up. Just wear gloves!
Removing Excess Weight
“Avoid keeping unnecessary items in your vehicle, especially heavy ones. An extra 100 pounds in your vehicle could reduce your MPG by up to 2%.” Do you carry around three strollers, two boxes of books and a case of diapers in the back of your car? Don’t laugh, but that used to be us. My husband is famous for loading the car with boxes of items for donation that take a week to get dropped off and stuff that won’t fit in the garage. And sometimes I was just too lazy to cart the non perishable grocery items directly into the house.
Are you happy with your gas milage?
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