Fuel saving tips

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

Proper and adequate vehicle maintenance

Under-inflated tires wear out faster, slow acceleration, and use more fuel. Therefore, tires should always be maintained at the recommended pressure, 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 lubricant 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 on the vehicle, the driver can remove them or temporarily remove them, and only use them when needed. Some accessories that make the vehicle heavier, increase the level of wind resistance and make the vehicle consume more fuel include roof racks, roof racks, front/rear bumpers, spoilers, side steps, or some spoilers that are not properly installed on the vehicle.

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, large cans of liquids... 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 the 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 the acceleration and deceleration technique

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 the 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 throttle to let the car drift by inertia to about 60-65 km/h, and repeat this acceleration and acceleration process.

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

During the release phase, the car glides on kinetic energy, most cars today when the driver does not step on the gas, the car uses very little gasoline, or completely cuts 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 act of allowing a vehicle to travel the farthest possible distance on a given amount of fuel.