As you’ll have noticed if you’ve driven a car anywhere or read a newspaper, the cost of fueling a car has become more expensive in recent times. That’s a concern for any motorist, and when you bear in mind that the need to cut back on emissions is also an ever-present consideration, it makes the topic of fuel efficiency ever more important. As we await a more complete transition to zero-emission vehicles which are easy to run, much of the focus falls on tech and gadgets you can use to reduce your fuel consumption.
Tyre Pressure and Fuel Consumption
You may or may not know that underinflated tyres lead to greater fuel use, or if you did, you might not know why. The reason is that tyres that are not fully inflated cause more drag on a vehicle, causing it to use more fuel to make the same journey in the same time. It doesn’t occur to everyone that it is necessary to check your tyres before driving, but by checking they are at the ideal pressure level you can save money.
Your ideal pressure varies depending on the car, but it should be easy enough to find – it will be printed somewhere on the car, usually on the inside of the driver-side door or inside the fuel filler cap. If not, it will certainly be in the owner’s manual. A tyre pressure monitoring kit will allow you to check the pressure and then inflate the tyres to the correct level. This is particularly important before any longer journeys.
Smart Apps and Navigation
Increasingly, there are apps for everything in this day and age. That’s certainly the case for driving, and it is wise to download an app to help with the fuel efficiency of your car. There is plenty of choice in your relevant app store, so look for one that monitors driving habits and suggests improvements. It may be that you are braking more often than you need to, or that you take longer to change gear than is ideal.
A good app will have suggestions on how you can make beneficial changes, and it’s also sensible to use a GPS navigation system – most of them will have an option to pick the most fuel-efficient route. Bear in mind that this won’t necessarily be the shortest one, but one that keeps you away from heavily congested areas where you use more fuel sat in traffic than is ideal.
Aerodynamic Improvements
If you drive a pickup truck, then you may not have been aware that the truck bed is doing you no favours when it comes to aerodynamics, and adding a tonneau cover can make a considerable difference, as can removing anything that causes drag such as roof racks or unnecessary accessories. You may also consider air deflectors for your side mirrors, which remove drag without affecting the performance of the mirror. It’s possible to add spoilers too, although make sure that these are professionally installed, as a poorly-fitted spoiler can make your car less aerodynamic, which is the opposite of what you want.
