How to save on fuel costs 1

Recently, there is not much positive news in the auto business but there are a few hot topics such as Honda’s launch of the Incite and Toyota’s big cut of \300,000 from the original price of their new Prius which is going on the market in May. Today, for people who cannot afford a hybrid car, I would like to tell you how to cut fuel costs and improve fuel efficiency.

There are 4 different stages of movement when a car runs. Here are the percentages of each stage when the whole running procedure (from the engine start to stop) is 100%:

(Movement; % of the fuel consumption against the whole running procedure)
1) Starting & accelerating: 35%
2) Cruising (at a certain speed): 45%
3) Reducing speed: 5%
4) Stopping: 15%

Let’s analyse the data.
When you are 1) Starting & accelerating a car, the percentage of the fuel consumption reaches 35%. For example, when you start and accelerate a bicycle, a lot of strain goes to your feet to pedal and you need to pedal harder to speed up the bicycle. Similarly, when you start a car or accelerate a car, it puts strain largely on the car’s engine which requires more energy. The energy is provided by burning the fuel. Thus when you start and accelerate a car, the percentage of the fuel consumption increases.

When you are 2) Cruising at a certain speed, you use the most fuel of all the 4 stages: 45%. This is because you keep your foot on the accelerator for a longer time than the other stages. However, thinking about fuel consumption, because your acceleration is steady unlike when you start and accelerate a car suddenly and you do not need to push the accelerator harder, this movement can keep fuel consumption down. (This is why driving on a motorway is better.)

3) Reducing speed requires the least fuel out of the 4 stages and it is the movement which needs the least fuel consumption.

4) means you still use 15% of the fuel even when your car is not moving, which means when you are in the middle of a traffic jam, waiting for the light change and when your car is still using the fuel while idling in a car park, etc. Yes, idling uses more fuel than we usually think.

These 4 stages are also dependent on the driving environment for the driver.
For example, a driver who drives around a city, crawling at a snail’s pace in traffic jams and stopping at intersections often, uses more bad-for-fuel movements of 1) Starting and accelerating and 4) Stopping. Their fuel consumption is not as good.

On the other hand, the drivers who drive outer-city, they uses the stage 2) Cruising which they can save on fuel, so they can keep their fuel consumption relatively low.

So remember this:
・Starting and accelerating: uses most fuel
・Cruising and reducing speed: relatively low fuel consumption
・Stopping: uses more fuel than we think

Check where you are wasting the fuel and think about it when you drive next time. Are you driving economically?


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(Editor)
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