4 Ways You May Be Wasting Gasoline and Money Without Even Realizing It
1. Carrying Extra Weight In Your Vehicle Wastes Gasoline
According to www.fueleconomy.gov, carrying around an extra 100 pounds of weight can reduce the miles-per-gallon rate your vehicle gets by as much as 2 percent. That may seem like a lot of weight, but the pounds can add up quickly without you realizing it. We Americans tend to leave items in our car. Some people use their vehicle like a storage unit. If you haul around your bowling ball, other sports equipment, tools, et cetera, you could be wasting .02 cents to .04 cents per gallon of gasoline. The smaller the vehicle is that you drive, the more the added weight affects your miles-per-gallon rate. That means, if you have your Honda Civic stuffed to the roof, it's going to waste more gasoline than a Chevy Impala carrying extra weight.
2. Speeding = Wasting Gasoline and Money
Besides sports, steak and sex, Americans love speed. According to www.onlinelegaltips.com, more than 115,000 drivers are issued speeding tickets in the United States every day. According to the US government, cars save the most gasoline when they're driven between 35 and 60 miles-per-hour. If you drive a pick-up truck or an SUV, they're the most fuel efficient when they're driven about 10 miles-per-hour slower than that.
If you speed and go over 60 miles-per-hour in a car, or an estimated 50 miles-per-hour in a truck or SUV, you're wasting gasoline. For every 5 miles-per-hour you drive over 50 or 60, it's like paying about a quarter more per gallon of gasoline.
3. Buying E85 Ethanol Flex Fuel Wastes Money
Another way you can be wasting money on gasoline without even realizing it is, if you use E85 Ethanol in your vehicle. "E85" is an alternative fuel for cars and trucks that's made up of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. Since alcohol doesn't have the "energy content" that gasoline has, flexible fuel vehicles that use E85 don't get as many miles-per-gallon. According to www.e85fuel.com, these vehicles can "experience a 10-15% drop in fuel economy". According to www.howstuffworks.com, a new Chevrolet Impala with a V-6 under the hood will get 21 miles-per-gallon in the city and 31 miles-per-gallon on the highway with gasoline in the tank. Fill that gasoline tank with E85 instead, and the miles-per-gallon drops to 16 in the city and 23 on the highway.
4. Choosing Premium Gasoline Wastes Money
It's easy to think the three choices on a pump represent, "Good Gasoline", "Better Gasoline" and the "Best Gasoline". Actually, the choices represent the different amounts of octane the fuels contain. The first choice is the lowest, and it's usually 87-octane. Most vehicles run well on this gasoline. If you use 91-octane gasoline in a vehicle that's designed for 87-octane fuel, you'll lose about 6 miles-per-gallon. The higher the octane, the more energy it takes to burn the gasoline. That means, your vehicle's engine has to work harder, and its gas mileage will suffer.
Resources
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-03-14-drivers-licenses_x.htm
http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Alerts/5-08-24GasolineTips.htm
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/driveHabits.shtml
http://www.cars.com/go/advice/Story.jsp?section=fuel&subject=fuelTips&story=mpgSave&referer=&aff=chitrib
http://www.onlinelegaltips.com/traffic-violations/unpaid-Alabama-speeding-tickets.html
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/how-e85-ethanol-flex-fuel-works.htm
http://www.e85fuel.com/e85101/faqs/range.php
Published by Kassidy Emmerson
Kassidy Emmerson has studied Journalism, Creative and Non-Fiction Writing and Computer Programming. She has worked as a professional freelance writer for over a decade. Emmerson has 6,000+ articles published... View profile
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- For every 5 MPH you drive over 50 or 60, it's like paying about a quarter more per gallon.
- More than 115,000 drivers are issued speeding tickets in the United States every day.
- Most vehicles run well on 87-octane gasoline.
7 Comments
Post a CommentGood points!
Good info and a good reminder, thanks.
Great information. I knew I was wasting money while driving faster. Now i know how much. Another way i see people wasting gasoline is sitting idle in their cars parked for about 10-30 minutes in the park near where i live. I dont know why people leave their cars running. Its such an obvious waste!
Good information. Another reason to stop speeding.
Good article, Kassidy. I try to make sure I don't waste petrol.
Sophie
End stop and go driving.
I found the last one interesting - I never realized there was such a difference.