Give eco-driving the green light (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Give eco-driving the green light

8:33am Wednesday 5th August 2009 in News By Telegraph & Argus

It’s been hailed as the equivalent of eating less meat and turning the telly off stand-by, but in the image and speed-conscious world of motoring, there’s nothing sexy or fast about ‘hypermiling’ – the so-called ‘art’ of eco-driving.

Hypermilers, who started off in America, have been derided as boringly eco-conscious car owners who prefer their granola crunchy and their sandals paired with socks.

But their driving techniques had a point: by taking their foot off the gas, watching how often they slammed on their brakes and by coasting rather than flying into traffic jams, they cut down on their gas mileage – some by as much as 30 per cent.

Not only do they reduce their carbon emissions, they save nearly £400 a year on fuel costs – a blessing with or without a recession.

And now the UK Government has cottoned on to eco-driving, too. So much so, in fact, that hypermiling is now part of Britain’s driving test.

They call it ‘driving smart’. The idea is simple: just like when you ride a bicycle, your car operates more smoothly and efficiently when it maintains its momentum. The more you stop and start, the less fluid mobility you create and the slower you arrive at your destination.

New drivers have been touted as the easiest to convert to ‘driving green’, says the AA, which offers Drive Smart courses to help road-users cut an average of ten to 15 per cent from their annual fuel bill.

The course consists of two one-hour sessions with an AA instructor, half devoted to driving the way you do normally, the other to learning how to making your technique more green.

Andy Welch tried ‘driving smart’ to see if it’s all it’s cut out to be.

“I’m a cautious driver to begin with,” he says. “But I didn’t know I could save loads of fuel just by changing my driving habits.

“After being shown a few tips by one of the AA’s instructors, I’ve changed the way I drive and I’m now reaping the benefits.

“My instructor, Karen Parker, picked me up from my home and we started our lesson. We spent the first hour just driving, covering a disappointing nine miles in heavy traffic, with a record of my miles per gallon recorded on the car’s onboard computer.

“Karen made no comments about my driving, and as I don’t drive particularly fast – the congestion and constant traffic lights saw to that – I thought my average mpg would be OK. I was wrong. When we pulled over to check, I had averaged a paltry 26.8 miles to the gallon.

“Karen tried to console me by saying that crawling along at busy junctions and stopping at lights every five minutes aren’t conducive to saving valuable litres of petrol, nor is it kind to your pocket or the environment.

“She told me gear-changing is number one on my list of things to do differently. I normally change up a gear at around 3,500 revs per minute, or a lot higher – about 5,000rpm should I be on a motorway or dual carriageway.”

Karen advises cutting this to 2,000rpm, or 2,500 on a motorway. “If you’re driving along at 30mph, with no clear sign ahead that you’ll have to stop anytime soon, slip the car into fifth gear. Modern cars are made for this, and unless you suddenly have to slow down or go up a steep hill, you won’t stall,” she says.

Next up is awareness. “Most drivers don’t look far enough ahead when they’re driving, but eco driving involves glancing even further down the road when you’re behind the wheel,” says Andy. “I felt vaguely like I was looking into a telescope, but anticipation is the key, said Karen, as stopping and starting is the enemy of fuel efficiency.”

Karen’s last tip concerns cruising. “If there’s a busy junction or a set of traffic lights in the distance, and the lights are on amber or red, what’s the point in racing up to the back of the queue, just to sit there and wait?” she asks. “Slow down, even if you get down to 15 or 20mph and just roll along, changing down the gear box if necessary.”

The idea is that, by the time you arrive at the lights, the congestion may have cleared, leaving you to just tap the throttle gently and get back up to normal speed. You haven’t stopped and you haven’t really held up anyone behind you, but you will be saving money and petrol.

If you can’t do this, however, and you find yourself stuck in traffic, Karen advises turning your engine off if you’re sat there for more than 30 seconds.

“An idling engine burns fuel and rapidly decreases your mpg,” says Karen.

After learning and putting these tips into practice, Andy reset the counter and headed back along the same route. “I had 26.8mpg to beat, and was determined to do so,” he says. “All was going perfectly when I set a personal best of 58mpg – more than double my previous fuel efficiency – until we hit the traffic again.

“But even after all the stopping and starting, we arrived back home to see I’d still managed a very respectable average of 33.5mpg. That’s a 25 per cent improvement from when I first started, which is not to be sniffed at.”

The AA offers free Drive Smart lessons to newly-qualified drivers seeking to improve their safety and fuel efficiency. Visit theAA.com/drive-smart for details.