Tips On How To Save Petrol
Don’t do this at Filling Petrol Station!
With the hefty fuel price hike, I’m sure the question on everyone’s mind right now is how to improve your petrol consumption and save money on petrol.
Here are a few things I’ve been doing since the last fuel price hike to improve on my petrol consumption and minimize my petrol bill:
1) PUMP UP YOUR TYRES TO YOUR TYRE SPECIFICATION
Properly inflated tyres can bring you some petrol savings and improve your driving experience. Keeping your tyres inflated is one of the easiest and most important things one can do to improve fuel economy. The Tyre specification is stated clearly on it tyre Itself!
2) AVOID SPEEDING
Even if you drive very fast always keep to a certain speed limit. When you go above a certain speed limit, your car starts to face strong wind resistance. This threshold will depend on your car’s aerodynamics, but generally anything over 80 km/h means you are using up extra petrol just to overcome wind resistance.
Driving below the speed limit also saves money indirectly by avoiding traffic summons, and keeping you safe from accidents.
2) SWITCH OFF ACCESSORIES BEFORE START
Switch off all power consuming accessories like Radio, air-condition etc. before switching on the ignition so as to minimize battery load during the next start.
3) AVOID STRONG ACCELERATION
Eliminate strong acceleration (sudden acceleration from idle). It wastes fuel. Accelerate slowly when starting from dead stop. Accelerating suddenly, or jack rabbit starts will burn more petrol because you are using a lot of energy to get your car moving.
4) PUTTING YOUR CAR GEAR INTO NEUTRAL WHEN IN IDLE
When sitting at a set of traffic lights or in traffic for an extended length of time, put your car into neutral or park. This can save a significant amount of fuel.
5) SHUT ALL YOUR CAR WINDOWS.
Shutting all your car windows while driving will make your car more aerodynamic. This will improve your car’s fuel efficiency. Driving with them open drastically reduces your fuel efficiency. In highway driving, over 50% of the power produced by the engine is used to overcome aerodynamic drag.
6) TRAVEL LIGHT
Avoid carrying any unnecessary weight in your car. On the average, every 50kg added load in your car will increase fuel consumption by 2%.
7) PLAN AHEAD
Plan ahead so that you make a single round trip, instead of making many individual trips to do different errands. Traffic jams are terrible for fuel consumption. There’s a lot of starting, stopping, idling and excessive acceleration to prevent others from cutting into your lane. Take alternative routes to avoid traffic jams, or plan your trip to avoid rush hour traffic.
Accelerations and decelerations waste fuel. Braking and abrupt stops can be minimized by not following too closely and slowing down gradually when approaching a red light. It takes up to six times as much fuel to move a car from a dead stop than it does for one moving at just a few km/h.
8)PERIODIC CAR MAINTENANCE
Service your car regularly to Ensure it is in good condition all the time. A well maintained car will improve your petrol mileage.
9) SWITCH TO NATURAL GAS VEHICLE(NGV)
You can see that most of the cars queuing up at natural gas pumps are taxis. Now more and more cars joining the queue.
Do you have any petrol-saving ideas? Share your wisdoms in the comments below!
Tips to help save fuel costs
By EUGENE MAHALINGAM
Simple, routine vehicle maintenance and smart driving habits can help you save hundreds of ringgit in fuel costs a year.
SO fuel prices have gone up. Granted, it’s not that much and there is no reason to hit the panic button, but you’re definitely going to feel the pinch, even if it’s a small one.
To recap, last week the Government announced the increase in the price of RON95 petrol by five sen per litre to RM1.85, while RON97 will no longer be subsidised.
The price of diesel rose by five sen to RM1.75 per litre.
What this means is that if you are used to topping up your tank with a certain amount of money before, you’d realise now that the fuel gauge won’t be as high as where it used to be and driving to the pump is going to become a wee bit more frequent.
However, there are steps that you as a driver can take to help mitigate this. Simple, routine vehicle maintenance and smart driving habits can help you save hundreds of ringgit in fuel costs a year.
Don’t drive aggressively
According to a study by Natural Resources Canada, frequent “jackrabbit” starts (that is, fast acceleration of a motor vehicle from a stationary position) and hard braking can increase fuel consumption by almost 40% and only reduces travel time by a mere 4%.
“The ideal way is to accelerate slowly and smoothly and then get into high gear as quickly as possible,” says Simon Lam of Used Autos Sdn Bhd, a Kuala Lumpur-based used-car dealer.
According to Lam, in normal city driving, about 50% of the energy needed to power a car, is used during vehicle acceleration. “If you notice you’re slamming on the brakes hard and often, then it’s a sign that you’re wasting fuel unnecessarily,” says Lam.
According to eartheasy.com, increasing your highway cruising speed from 90 kmh to 120 kmh can increase fuel consumption by as much as 20%. One can improve gas mileage by 10% to 15% by driving at around 90 kmh.
Alternatively, you can opt for cruise control if your car has it, says Lam. “This is especially good for long trips. Not only will it reduce your urge to speed, you’ll also feel less tired after the journey.”
Keep tyres properly inflated
Under-inflated tyres create added rolling resistance and can increase fuel consumption by as much as 6%, says Klang Valley-based tyre agent Vincent Pang.
“Check your tyre pressure regularly and make sure to inflate them as recommended by the manufacturer. It’s not difficult to do and doesn’t cost you anything. Looking after your tyres not only helps you to reduce fuel consumption, it promotes better vehicle handling and tyre life,” he adds.
But, apart from taking care of your tyres, keeping your entire car in good working condition also ensures that it is running at optimum levels and peak efficiency.
Use air-cond sparingly
Okay, we all know how unkind the Malaysian heat can be, but a two-minute trip to the mamak stall or post office without air-conditioning won’t kill you.
According to eartheasy.com, using a vehicle’s air-conditioner on a hot day can increase fuel consumption by as much as 10% in city driving.
At low speeds, opening the window helps to save fuel consumption by reducing air-condition usage.
However, at high speeds, driving with the air-cond on is more fuel-efficient than the wind resistance caused by having the windows and sunroof open, it says.
Travel light
The more weight you carry, the more fuel you use, says Kuala Lumpur-based mechanical engineer Peter Lau. “Your car is a means for transportation, not a mobile storage facility. Keep heavy items like tools, sports equipment or other items at home when you don’t need them,” he advises.
Lau adds that vehicle add-ons, such as roof racks or even spoilers, can add to wind-drag and reduce fuel efficiency.
“Remove items such as roof and bike racks when not in use. If you have to use them, load them in such a way that any sort of drag or resistance can be minimised while driving.”
fr:biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/7/24/business/6711583&sec=business