Fleet Tips

10 Tips for Saving Fuel

From the Australian Greenhouse Office Fuel Consumption Guide

1. Plan Your Trips

Plan to do a number of errands in one trip rather than several trips and save both time and fuel. Avoid peak-hour traffic, hard accelerating and heavy braking as they all waste fuel. Driving smoothly and avoiding stop-start traffic saves fuel and up to 30 per cent of greenhouse emissions.

2. Avoid Short Car Trips By Walking or Cycling

Walking or cycling is good exercise and saves over a quarter of a kilogram of greenhouse gas per kilometre of car driving it replaces.

3. Service Your Car Regularly

Keep your car well tuned and reduce greenhouse gases by up to 15 per cent through fuel savings.

4. Select The Right Gear

Change up through the gears and into top gear as soon as possible without accelerating harder than necessary. Driving in a gear lower than you need wastes fuel; so does letting the engine labour in top gear on hills and corners. Automatic transmissions will shift up more quickly and smoothly if you ease back slightly on the accelerator once the car gathers momentum.

5. Speed Kills Economy

High speeds result in high fuel consumption. At 110 km/h your car uses up to 25 per cent more fuel than it would cruising at 90 km/h. On the open road, drive within the posted speed limits.

6. Stopping and Braking

Resting your foot on the brake or driving with the hand-brake on wastes fuel, increases brake wear and decreases braking efficiency.

Rather than idle for lengthy periods it is more fuel efficient to switch off and then restart your engine when necessary.

7. Filling Up

Filling past the first click of the fuel nozzle means fuel can be spilt or lost through the overflow pipe when you accelerate or go around corners.

A properly fitting petrol cap also saves fuel by minimising evaporation of petrol.

8. Look After Your Car's Tyres

Inflate your car's tyres to the pressure range recommended by the manufacturer for the use of the car, and make sure your wheels are properly aligned. Looking after your tyres will not only reduce your fuel consumption it will also extend tyre life and improve handling.

9. Use Air Conditioning Sparingly

Air conditioners can use about 10 per cent extra fuel.

10. Travel Light

The more a car carries the more fuel it uses; an extra 50 kg of weight can increase your fuel bill by two per cent. Anything fixed to the outside of the car increases wind resistance and fuel consumption.