Fuel saving tips

The way you drive can have a big impact on how fuel efficient your vehicle is. Things that can waste fuel include sudden acceleration and deceleration, under-inflated tires, poor vehicle maintenance, and carrying too much weight. These issues can be corrected to keep your vehicle running at its most fuel-efficient.

Proper and adequate vehicle maintenance

Under-inflated tyres wear out faster, slow acceleration and use more fuel. Therefore, tyres should always be maintained at the recommended pressure, which is printed on the door sill.

In addition, drivers should have their wheels adjusted (toe-in, angle...) periodically, about every 2-3 years. Finally, the vehicle's oil and lubricants must be changed periodically to ensure the engine operates at its optimal level.

Lose weight if possible

Drivers can improve fuel economy by reducing the weight of their vehicle. If there are too many unnecessary heavy items in the car, drivers can remove them or temporarily remove them, and only use them when needed. Some accessories that make the car heavier, increase wind resistance and increase fuel consumption include roof racks, roof racks, front/rear bumpers, spoilers, side steps, or some spoilers that are not properly installed on the car.

Many users have the habit of leaving some items in the trunk of their car even though they don't use them every day, such as camping gear, liquids in large cans... which can make the car weigh dozens of kilograms more.

According toNatural Resources Canada, fuel consumption of mid-size cars increases by 1% for every 25 kg of additional weight, and some roof racks can increase fuel consumption by 20% when traveling on the highway.

Limit rapid acceleration and sudden braking

Accelerating aggressively will cause the car to consume more fuel, helping the driver to quickly increase the speed of the car, and this can also cause the driver to brake suddenly to reduce speed if there is an obstacle or a car in front. Sudden braking means that the kinetic energy that helps the car move forward is wasted, converted into heat energy generated during the braking process.

Therefore, drivers should move at a moderate speed, carefully observe the road ahead to judge the situation and increase or decrease speed appropriately.

Use acceleration and deceleration techniques

Pulse and glide is a driving technique that can save up to 20% compared to maintaining a fixed speed, proven by simulation by experts at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan (USA) in 2011. For example, if a driver wants to move at a speed of 70 km/h, the driver needs to quickly accelerate to about 75-80 km/h, then release the accelerator to let the car drift by inertia to about 60-65 km/h, and repeat this acceleration and acceleration process.

The above driving method saves more fuel than the fixed speed process, because during acceleration, the engine's efficiency is almost at its maximum because at this stage the torque is very high, and most of this energy is converted into kinetic energy for the vehicle. This kinetic energy is then used for the phase when the vehicle moves forward when the accelerator is released.

During the release phase, the car glides by kinetic energy. Most cars today, when the driver does not step on the gas pedal, use very little gasoline, or completely cut off the gasoline mixture into the cylinder to save fuel. Therefore, the car uses fuel more efficiently than maintaining the throttle continuously and at a fixed speed.

This is a fuel-saving driving technique used by the "hyper-miling" communities around the world, which is the term used to describe the action of helping a vehicle travel the farthest possible distance on a given amount of fuel.