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The two driving forces behind motorists choosing fully electric or hybrid vehicles are; economy and environmental impact.
No car is 100% efficient. A lot of the energy produced by the combustion of fuel in the engine gets lost as heat, noise, vibration and overcoming resistance and inertia. Only a small part of it gets to turn the wheels and move your car forwards.
Keeping your car well maintained minimises unnecessary losses in efficiency, meaning that it takes less energy (fuel) to generate the same amount of power at your wheels.
Engine oil, wheel alignment, even the electric systems can have a huge impact on efficiency, which is why it’s so important to stay on top of car service schedules.
Just because it’s still driving safely, doesn’t mean that it’s operating optimally.
Our recommendation is to have your car serviced annually, and book in for a mid-year check up to get ahead of any incoming issues that could be hampering your fuel economy.
You've no doubt noticed how different a car feels to drive when it's just you on board compared with when you have multiple passengers.
We know that extra weight takes more fuel to move from A to B and although we can't always get rid of our passengers, there may be another weight you're carrying that could be removed, such as equipment stashes in the boot.
Permanently attached roof racks or boxes add an extra burden on fuel economy as the car has to overcome additional air resistance.
Efficient aerodynamics are carefully designed into the shape of your car, and roof attachments severely disrupt the flow of air, taking up more fuel to cut through it.
If you’re not using your roof rack or box, remove it to cut down on the drag.
Most modern vehicles have a stop / start system that reduces the amount of fuel burned when idling.
Make sure that this is switched on and that if you are idling and notice that doesn't kick in after a few seconds, you manually turn odd the engine to prevent unnecessary CO2 emissions.
Smooth accelerating and braking makes a big difference to your fuel consumption.
The energy required to accelerate hard is much more than when you gradually increase your speed, and heavy braking simply heats up the brakes and tyres which can also increase sear on those components.
If you drive a manual car keep an eye on your gear shift indicator which will tell you the most efficient time to change is.
If you are in an automatic keep the selector in Drive rather than Sport mode if
that’s an option, as this will give you better fuel economy.
Modern cars come laden with electric and mechanical aids and devices; air con systems, demisters, heaters, multi-media… some of these will be essential to your driving experience and safety, but they can sometimes be left on when they could be switched off.
Check your rear windscreen heater isn’t permanently on and monitor you heater settings to make sure you’re not draining the power when you could be saving fuel.
The faster you drive the more fuel you consume, because the resistance the car has to overcome doesn’t increase proportionally.
For example, increasing speed from 70mph to 80mph can increase fuel consumption by up to 25%.
Not only are these tips good for reducing the impact of CO2 emissions on the environment, they are also great ways to reduce the cost of driving.
If your car is due a service soon give us a call here at Thame Cars and find out about our services. We offer a range of plans to suit your budget and goals, and use a transparent traffic light system to help you understand maintenance issues that may be building up.
