If you own a car, you certainly know how expensive it has become to refuel it. No more striking black gold in your backyard, here are a few things you can do right now to improve fuel efficiency and save some money in the process:
- Don’t Be the Leader – Go gently on the pedals. Stamping the gas pedal wastes fuel.
- Slow down Lower speed means lower wind resistance which means less fuel usage. For every mile per hour over 50, you can reduce your fuel efficiency by 7-14%.
- Using Cruise Control – Cruise control can improve your mileage by 14% as your engine maintains a steady speed. However, avoid using in really hilly areas, as constant cyclic acceleration will waste gas. And you always end up at that awkward speed and RPM when the cruise control system doesn’t know whether to accelerate or not.
- Turn Off Vehicle – Turn off the car if you idle for more than a minute – AAA estimates the engine burns 1/4-1/2 gallon of gas for every hour of idling.
- Check your tire pressure and alignment – Tires that are properly inflated and aligned will roll more easily. Easy rolling equals better mileage.
- New spark plugs – If your mileage drops suddenly, you may need a new spark plug. Damaged spark plugs can cause uneven or unstable ignition, affect fuel economy, and can ultimately wreak havoc on the engine.
- Get rid of the trash in your trunk – Reduce the weight of your vehicle by removing unnecessary items from your vehicle. Lighter vehicles provide better fuel economy.
- Use the air conditioner, don’t scroll down the window – more reasonable and modern air conditioning design does not reduce fuel economy as before.
- Continue to maintain your car – Proper tuning, oil and filter cleaning, and properly maintained transmission and transmission can all help you maintain the best mileage possible.
- Plan your trip – Planning a route to the places you need to go can reduce the number of miles you drive for errands, which means less gas.
- Avoid rush hour if you can – Stop-and-go traffic can affect your gas mileage and is not in a good direction.
- Drive to warm up the engine – Save gas instead of idling to warm up the engine, and help increase engine temperature faster than idling.
By now you may have heard the advice to fill up your gas tank early in the morning or late at night to get more fuel “per gallon” because cold gasoline is denser than warm gasoline? While technically correct, the difference in fuel volume due to actual expansion is negligible.
One study found that when gasoline was increased from 60ºF to 75ºF (15.6ºC-24ºC), it increased by 1% in volume while the energy content of the injected fuel remained the same. In addition, the stations store fuel underground in insulated tanks, keeping the gas temperature more stable and minimizing expansion.
So while filling up with gas at the most enjoyable time of the day might not do any harm, trying to do so won’t help as much as urban legend suggests it can.
