Cut Your Fuel Consumption Using Better Planning

You can cut your fuel consumption by 10 per cent (or more) just by planning your trips better.

THE PROBLEM

Most people don’t plan their transport too well – either in business or in their domestic lives. This means they use their cars inefficiently – in other words they end up driving too far, too often, which wastes fuel and therefore money.

This means you can cut your fuel consumption just by planning ahead. It’s easy to cut your fuel consumption like this, but you do have to make an effort.

THE RESULT

For an average driver, spending $50-$100 a week on fuel, cutting your fuel consumption in this way will save you $250-$500 annually.

Degree of difficulty? A politician could do it. (Except they are generally disinclined to cut their fuel consumption because taxpayers fund much of their transport expenditure…)

HOW TO CUT YOUR FUEL CONSUMPTION

Cutting your fuel consumption in this way involves doing two things:

First, you cut your fuel consumption by doing

fuel, drivingJohn Cadogan20 October 2011driving, efficient driving, fuel consumption, fuel economy, petrolComment

E10 Fuel

Verdict: Don’t bother

E10 petrol – a 10 per cent mix of ethanol in petrol – is a nice idea … but E10 petrol will not save you any money.

E10 petrol sounds like a smart idea - but unless you watch the price carefully you could easily get ripped offAbove: Typical ethanol marketing fluffNEED TO KNOW

Petrol is derived from crude oil, a fossil fuel. It is a chemical hydrocarbon. (Actually it’s a collection of hydrocarbons.)
Ethanol is manufactured, usually by fermentation, from plant products containing sugars and starches. Ethanol is an alcohol (actually it’s the same alcohol as the stuff in beer, wine and spirits).
When you buy fuel, you’re buying a liquid form of energy. Unfortunately, ethanol

fuel, drivingJohn Cadogan8 October 2011E10, E10 petrol, cheap fuel, ethanol, fuel consumption, fuel priceComment

Fuel Consumption

Potential Saving: $800 Annually - Just by Driving Differently

Cutting your car's fuel consumption costs nothing. Cutting fuel consumption could save you – effectively – about 30 cents per litre on petrol, at the time of writing. If you reduce your fuel consumption to a reasonable extent, you could save up to $800 annually. All you need to do to reduce fuel consumption is modify your driving behaviour.

Here's the detail on cutting your fuel bill by changing how you drive:

Should I turn the engine off when I'm stopped in traffic?

Not much actual fuel-saving benefit; massive potential problems if the battery goes flat

Potential Fuel Saving: Negligible

Annoying and pointless, except in absolute gridlock

The Federal Government offers this recommendation in itsGreen Vehicle Guide website: “By having the engine switched off, even for a short period, you will save more fuel than is lost … in restarting the engine. The net increased wear and tear from this practice is negligible.”

On the Calais V V6 we tested, one engine start appears to

Will I use less fuel on a toll road?

Toll roads are faster and more fuel efficient? Don't believe it

Potential Economic Benefit: negative

Faster (but only if free-flowing) and almost always more costly

Selling the concept of toll roads to the driving population on the basis of fuel saving via more efficient driving is generally a con, or at least a liberty with the truth.

fuel, drivingJohn Cadogan9 November 2010save fuel, fuel efficiency, toll roads, fuel consumption, driving on toll roadsComment