Top tips to maximise fuel efficiency

The average driver spends almost £70,000 on fuel over their lifetime, according to a poll taken in 2017[1]. Wouldn’t it be nice to cut that bill and reduce your impact on the environment?

It’s quite easy to drive more efficiently and cut your car’s fuel consumption. It just requires a different mindset when you’re behind the wheel.

Here are some simple tips that can help you to change the way you drive and improve your fuel efficiency.

1. Read the road

This means looking far ahead and anticipating obstacles or changes in gradient. That way, you can ease off the throttle rather than slamming your foot on the brakes, which can help lower your fuel consumption.

On slopes, imagine you’re on your bike, and enjoy gravity when going downhill, using the momentum to get you some of the way if you’re set for an incline.

2. Plan your journey

If you can, plan your route to avoid busy sections of road, especially at peak times, and to ensure you don’t get lost.

Where possible, make one round trip rather than several short ones to avoid starting the engine from cold too many times – according to fuel-economy.co.uk, a cold engine will generally use twice as much fuel as a warm engine.

3. Avoid speeding

Your fuel costs will increase the faster you drive, so keep speeds reasonable.

Stats indicate that driving at a steady speed of 55 miles per hour (mph) instead of 70mph can improve fuel economy by 25%[2]. That said, obviously, you should drive at speeds appropriate to the road you are on.

4. Ease up on the brakes

The harder you accelerate the more fuel you burn through. According to fuel-economy.co.uk accelerating aggressively or braking abruptly can use up to 60% more fuel. Also, in normal conditions, coasting to a stop rather than slamming on the brakes helps conserve fuel.

5. Travel at a steady speed

On the motorway, this might mean using cruise control. But bear in mind that cruise control only aids fuel economy when driving on a constant flat surface and that it is always your responsibility to stay in control of your vehicle.

6. Ditch weight

The heavier your car, the harder it has to work to speed up or slow down, so you should aim to take s many heavy items that you don’t really need.

However, make sure you don’t get too carried away with de-cluttering your boot as you’ll need to offload 50kg worth of gear to improve your fuel consumption by just 2%[3].

7. Basic maintenance

Take the time to keep your car well maintained and make sure you have it serviced regularly.

Keeping your tyre pressure up to reduce resistance is particularly crucial to improve fuel efficiency.

8. Turn off the air con or heating

Air conditioning and heating put a strain on the engine and can burn more fuel, especially at low speeds, so you should use them only when necessary.

However, it’s worth bearing in mind that, if you open the windows when travelling at 60mph or above, using the air con becomes more fuel efficient[4]

9. Change to a higher gear

Change to a higher gear as soon as it’s possible and safe to do so. It’s more efficient to move up a gear at 2,500 revolutions per minute (rpm) for petrol drivers and 2,000 rpm for diesel drivers. Use high gears, such as fifth or sixth gear, sooner rather than later.[5]

10. Avoid idling

If you drive a modern car with engine stop-start technology, which cuts the engine when the car is stationary, you can save on fuel consumption by keeping your foot off the clutch.

Alternatively, if your car isn’t fitted with this technology, turn off your engine when you’ve been stationary for a minute or two.

11. Get a fuel-efficient car

The fuel consumption of cars can vary hugely – use the handy search tool from fuelwatchdog.co.uk, an online miles per gallon (mpg) and fuel cost comparison site, to find out how efficient your own car really is and give you some pointers for your next vehicle choice.

12. Do your research

You can search online for the best fuel prices in your area – for example at petrolprices.com.

It’s worth looking out for loyalty scheme, too. Planning where you are going to stop before a journey might also save you any costly diversions.

Many of the techniques above form part of a practice called hypermiling, which is using fuel-conserving techniques to maximise every drop of fuel. Some hypermiling techniques are extreme, unsafe and not to be recommended, such as driving without shoes to increase the foot’s sensitivity on the pedals or following closely behind large vehicles to cut down on wind resistance.

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