Driving Habits That Are Pushing Up Your Car’s Consumption

Fuel prices have jumped 73% in the last five years. Assuming Your car's full tank has a capacity of 50 litres, it would cost youKsh5,300 in 2019 when a litre of petrol was going for Ksh106.

Today,when the cost of petrol has shot to Ksh188, filling the same car will cost you Ksh9,400. 

Moreover, for a vehicle with an average consumption of 12 kilometres per litre, it would cost you about Ksh8 per kilometre in 2019 as opposed to about Ksh15 in 2024. 

The increased fuel prices prompt any driver to think about fuel efficiency. What can you do to maximise the value that you get from your fuel? Here are eight things that you can do to improve your vehicle consumption.

Aggressive Driving

Aggressive driving is driving without patience, speeding instantly, braking sharply, and driving in the wrong gear. While you might be in a hurry, driving like this rarely saves time and certainly does not save on fuel.

Aggressive driving can lower your fuel efficiency by up to 30%. Meaning if your car has a fuel efficiency of 12 km per litre you will only be able to cover 8.4 km. 

A small vehicle is about a tonne in weight. Moving a tonne from zero to 60km/hr over the next few metres will take up more energy than it will if you gently build up to the speed because you will take advantage of the momentum. 

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Speeding

You might be tempted to think that driving faster will save you fuel as you will spend less time on the road. That is technically true, up to a point. Depending on the vehicle, there are different optimum speeds for the best fuel consumption.

Typically, this speed varies between 60km/hr and 90km/hr. 

The reason behind this is that, as a car is traveling, it has to cut through air. There is a sweet spot when the car is able to cruise through, but if you go faster, you will be facing more air resistance than the car momentum is able to deal with, meaning it will need more energy from the engine to make through, and if you go slower, you fail to take advantage of the momentum, hence burning more fuel.

Idling

Idling is when the engine is left running without moving. This happens mostly when you are caught in traffic. An average engine can burn through 2 litres of fuel for every hour of idling. 

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If you find yourself in heavy traffic, it might be fuel-efficient if you turn off the engine. This method does not work in light traffic because you will have to keep turning the engine on and off, and the gains closely cancel each other out.

Excessive Use of Air Conditioning

Air conditioning uses energy to either produce the cold air or warm air that you need in your vehicle. In a car, this energy comes from the engine. Although the energy is negligible, excessive use of air conditioning can rack up the energy use to a level that will reflect on your fuel consumption. Therefore,. Before cranking the air conditioning, try using the windows first.

Poor Vehicle Maintenance

The efficiency of your vehicle's engine depends on maintenance. Maintenance ensures every part of the engine is running as it should. If that is not done, the engine might be forced to do extra work to compensate for the inefficiencies, which leads to excessive fuel consumption.

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Carrying Excess Weight

Engines are designed with load weights in mind. In fact, the horsepower measure of engine output correlates with the amount of work an engine can do. 

If you have a small engine and overload it, it will burn more fuel in an effort to produce enough energy compared to if the same load were carried by a suitable engine.

Excessive weight overworks your car, hence burning more fuel than necessary.

Improper Tyre Inflation

Every vehicle uses different tyres. It is important that you ensure you are using tyre sizes that match your car. Once you have the right tyres ensure they are properly inflated. A variation in tyre pressure by as little as one bar can lead to up to 2% less fuel efficiency. 

Poor Route Planning

Efficiency in route planning can significantly save you on fuel, from covering less distance to avoiding traffic. The best route is the shortest distance from point A to point B with the least traffic possible.

Wrapping Up

These methods of saving on fuel might not seem significant enough on their own, but cumulatively, they can significantly help you improve your fuel efficiency.

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