Eco-Safe Driving
Road safety is the number 1 priority whilst on the roads.
Eco-safe driving can only be considered when it is safe to do so.
Give yourself time to drive economically.
Use engine braking where possible. Fuel consumption during deceleration is extremely efficient. Use this feature to cover long distances efficiently, by coming off the gas pedal early and letting the engine slow the car down, rather than driving up to a junction fast, and then braking hard at the last moment. It will also reduce the wear on the engine and braking system.
Look well ahead of yourself, to give yourself time to brake gently. Consider the time of day of your journey, it may be possible to drive at a different time of day, when the traffic levels will be lower, and therefore your drive will be more flowing and efficient.
Consider not taking the car, maybe you can share your trip with others on a bus. Maybe you could walk, or use a cycle.
Do not coast. Travelling with the clutch down, or in neutral, reduces your control of the car. If the engine is not connected to the wheels, you are unable to take advantage of efficient engine braking, you will have to rely on just the brakes. During this time your car will not have slowed down as much as planned. Therefore you will have to brake harder than you planned. This may surprise the vehicle behind you, with a number of consequences. Because, you are braking harder than planned, you are more at risk of locking the brakes and causing the car to skid.
Do not carry extra weight unnecessarily. A boot full of rarely-used accessories increases the car's weight unnecessarily, causing the engine to have to work harder to increase speed, and the brakes to work harder to slow the car. Some people never fill the fuel tank completely, because it weighs more than a half-full tank, and therefore weighs more, needing more petrol to move it.
Roof racks and roof bars can increase fuel consumption by up to 15%, even when empty.
Try to keep the car moving on the approach to junctions and hazards, maybe the junction or hazard will clear itself, allowing you to keep moving, which takes much less energy than stopping and starting again. It also allows traffic behind you to keep moving, resulting in cumulative savings in energy savings..
Air-conditioning and climate control uses energy. Some people have calculated that by turning on air-con, you can increase your fuel consumption by 15%. That is the equivalent of changing your fuel consumption from, say, 50mpg, to 42mpg! If you had a roof rack on the car as well, your fuel consumption would change to 35mpg!
You could simply open the window instead of switching on the air-con. This will increase noise levels and reduce the car's aerodynamic properties, but reports show that that is more energy efficient than using aircon, up to 40mph. Above that speed the increased turbulence increases fuel consumption than using Air-con.
Changing gear at lower engine revs. Why travel at speed, at an engine speed of 2500 revs, when you might be easily able to get exactly the same effect at only 2000 revs? Using these figures, you might be able to save 20% of fuel consumption, engine wear, engine noise, whilst achieving the same speed on the road.
There will be many times or situations when these techniques will not be suitable to use, but this may only be for a few hundred meters, after which you may be able to return to using ecosafe methods.
Block gear changes. This involves accelerating in a particular gear to a higher number of revs than you normally would. You might then be able to miss out a gear change to achieve a certain speed, by using one gear change instead of two. For example you might be able to stay in 3rd gear a little longer than normal, rev a little higher, but then change straight into 5th gear, missing out 4th gear completely. If this is possible, the total number of revs used to travel along a certain length of road may be lower, with the resulting saving in fuel. You will only have had the clutch down once, which reduces clutch wear, you will only have removed you hand from the steering wheel once, rather than twice, which will mean that you have only one period when you only have half the normal steering control, instead of taking your hand off the wheel twice.
Efficient journey planning. Longer journey at smoother speeds. Lower traffic levels. Can you combine a number of separate trips into one longer one?
These techniques are only part of a whole attitude to driving and the environment, as well as economics.
www.andrewknightdriving.org.uk
Road safety is the number 1 priority whilst on the roads.
Eco-safe driving can only be considered when it is safe to do so.
Give yourself time to drive economically.
Use engine braking where possible. Fuel consumption during deceleration is extremely efficient. Use this feature to cover long distances efficiently, by coming off the gas pedal early and letting the engine slow the car down, rather than driving up to a junction fast, and then braking hard at the last moment. It will also reduce the wear on the engine and braking system.
Look well ahead of yourself, to give yourself time to brake gently. Consider the time of day of your journey, it may be possible to drive at a different time of day, when the traffic levels will be lower, and therefore your drive will be more flowing and efficient.
Consider not taking the car, maybe you can share your trip with others on a bus. Maybe you could walk, or use a cycle.
Do not coast. Travelling with the clutch down, or in neutral, reduces your control of the car. If the engine is not connected to the wheels, you are unable to take advantage of efficient engine braking, you will have to rely on just the brakes. During this time your car will not have slowed down as much as planned. Therefore you will have to brake harder than you planned. This may surprise the vehicle behind you, with a number of consequences. Because, you are braking harder than planned, you are more at risk of locking the brakes and causing the car to skid.
Do not carry extra weight unnecessarily. A boot full of rarely-used accessories increases the car's weight unnecessarily, causing the engine to have to work harder to increase speed, and the brakes to work harder to slow the car. Some people never fill the fuel tank completely, because it weighs more than a half-full tank, and therefore weighs more, needing more petrol to move it.
Roof racks and roof bars can increase fuel consumption by up to 15%, even when empty.
Try to keep the car moving on the approach to junctions and hazards, maybe the junction or hazard will clear itself, allowing you to keep moving, which takes much less energy than stopping and starting again. It also allows traffic behind you to keep moving, resulting in cumulative savings in energy savings..
Air-conditioning and climate control uses energy. Some people have calculated that by turning on air-con, you can increase your fuel consumption by 15%. That is the equivalent of changing your fuel consumption from, say, 50mpg, to 42mpg! If you had a roof rack on the car as well, your fuel consumption would change to 35mpg!
You could simply open the window instead of switching on the air-con. This will increase noise levels and reduce the car's aerodynamic properties, but reports show that that is more energy efficient than using aircon, up to 40mph. Above that speed the increased turbulence increases fuel consumption than using Air-con.
Changing gear at lower engine revs. Why travel at speed, at an engine speed of 2500 revs, when you might be easily able to get exactly the same effect at only 2000 revs? Using these figures, you might be able to save 20% of fuel consumption, engine wear, engine noise, whilst achieving the same speed on the road.
There will be many times or situations when these techniques will not be suitable to use, but this may only be for a few hundred meters, after which you may be able to return to using ecosafe methods.
Block gear changes. This involves accelerating in a particular gear to a higher number of revs than you normally would. You might then be able to miss out a gear change to achieve a certain speed, by using one gear change instead of two. For example you might be able to stay in 3rd gear a little longer than normal, rev a little higher, but then change straight into 5th gear, missing out 4th gear completely. If this is possible, the total number of revs used to travel along a certain length of road may be lower, with the resulting saving in fuel. You will only have had the clutch down once, which reduces clutch wear, you will only have removed you hand from the steering wheel once, rather than twice, which will mean that you have only one period when you only have half the normal steering control, instead of taking your hand off the wheel twice.
Efficient journey planning. Longer journey at smoother speeds. Lower traffic levels. Can you combine a number of separate trips into one longer one?
These techniques are only part of a whole attitude to driving and the environment, as well as economics.
www.andrewknightdriving.org.uk
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