Fuel Saving 1: Drive more efficiently

With fuel prices at an all time high, there are articles on how to save fuel prices, how to drive more efficiently and talk of alternative fuels. Here on websighting I intend to collect all this information and post it up regularly so keep an eye on this site.

The first issue will show you how to save money by the way you drive. Most of this information is taken from hypermiling websites. Hypermiling you ask? A new term coined from the many drivers who drive so as to maximise the fuel economy of their cars. Hypermiling these days can be done on roads now and will save you with real results. There are even competitions where people "race" to get the most mileage from 1 tank of fuel, most of these cars used are hybrids but this does not stop us average fuel guzzlers from hypermiling.

So lets get started on saving you some money by how you drive!
1. Braking less: if you think about it every time you brake will mean you need to accelerate again. Why waste this kinetic energy in your car and just let it roll to the next traffic light? The key to this tip is to anticipating what is coming up ahead, so if there is a section of road you always take to get out to the highway, practice where you just need to roll to the next turn or traffic light.

2. Accelerate efficiently: All cars need not a driver to floor the accelerator, it has been proven depending on your car that 75% of the throttle is all that is needed for bring a car efficiently up to speed from stop. Another key is to remember there is no need for acceleration during driving downhill.

3. Don't idle: If you stop the car for more than 10 seconds it uses more fuel than to start the car back up. So if you are at the traffic lights just turn the car off, of course keep an eye out for the other direction lanes for your turn to start the car back up.

4. Efficient speeds: Depending on the car, maintaining a certain speed will give you 7-23% fuel efficiency. This is due to the car's drag and also the higher the speed the higher the RPM. It is recommended to test your own car's efficient speed which is usually between 55km/h - 88km/h.

5. Choosing the gears: The higher the RPM the more fuel you burn, so try not to trash the accelerator but for manual drivers, you can choose to change to higher gears earlier. Just remember too low rpm will strain the engine, be sensible.

6. Drafting: Okay so this tip is not really recommended because it entails you tailgating cars bigger than yours so that you can take their slip stream. Essentially it will reduce your wind resistance and it is proven on mythbusters that it will increase fuel efficiency but is high dangerous in real life situations. The results they got saw 35.5mpg at 100 feet and 44.5mpg at 10 feet from the truck but this is obviously not smart in real life. Which leaves me to my final thought.

All these tips save you money, but use only when its safe to do so, what is a few dollars worth to your life, drive safe and drive efficiently!

Btw keep an eye out for Fuel Saving 2: a fuel efficient car