When you look at a vehicle’s fuel efficiency numbers, what you’re looking at are EPA estimates. The government organization tests each vehicle to see how many miles it gets from a gallon of fuel in city and highway conditions, but these tests use a lot of averages, assumptions, and best-case scenarios. Thus, while you can use these numbers to compare different vehicles to each other, they aren’t as useful when you’re figuring out your personal gas mileage.
A big part of your real-life efficiency numbers comes from your driving style. Driving aggressively tends to use up more gas, but driving carefully and taking the right roads can get you closer to the EPA numbers or even past them. Many of the most effective tips are surprisingly simple, including the ones on the list below.
Accelerate Easy
Accelerating efficiently is harder than it sounds. It’s clear enough that accelerating quickly brings the engine RPMs up and uses gas that way, but if you accelerate too slowly you’ll spend more time at less efficient speeds. You’ll also annoy the people behind you, and that just makes everything more stressful. Different vehicles reach their most efficient speed at different points, but in general, it’s usually around 60 mph. If you can reach that speed fairly quickly and then stick with it, you’ll have a very efficient drive.
Coast, Then Brake
This one’s easy enough to do, although you may have to put in some hard work to change your habits. When you coast down a road or only lightly tap the brakes, this means you’re moving forward without using any power from the engine. However, many people keep their speed going for as long as possible and then brake hard when they reach a stoplight or a stop sign. This wastes gas since both people halted at the same red light, and while one person coasted and let the engine idle, the other person pressed the accelerator and got exactly as far.
Let Cruise Control Do the Work
When you’re on the highway, your vehicle’s cruise control system helps more than just your right foot. The system lets you set it to your vehicle’s most efficient speed and then it’ll stay there automatically, braking as you go down hills and speeding up when you climb them.
Consider a Start/Stop System
Many vehicles from all different manufacturers are coming out with engines that have start/stop technology. This means that, if the sensor notices that you’ve come to a complete stop, it’ll turn off the engine so it stops wasting gasoline by being idle. Starting the engine back up is as easy as putting your foot on the accelerator, and doing this can save you a lot of gas that would be lost to idling.
There are plenty of other ways you can improve your fuel efficiency, like running as few accessories as possible when you drive and keeping up with your car’s maintenance schedule. Each habit only helps a little on its own, but when you add them up you can get some surprisingly efficient figures.
Photo by Karlis Dambrans | Licensed by CC BY 2.0
