If you are living in ice and snow region, winter weather is extreme. In the cold weather, gas mileage of the vehicles also goes down. According to a study done at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the conventional gas engines at twenty degrees temperature will get twelve percent lesser gas mileage than it is at 77 degrees. In this article, we will see the how to improve your car gas mileage.
- Sensible driving: Aggressive driving like braking, rapid acceleration and speeding will waste your fuel in both normal weather and ice or snow weather. It can lower your gas mileage five percent around city and one third at highway roads. Driving sensibly is safer. It will save you and others more than gas money.
- Speed limits: Every vehicle will have some speed ranges which provide optimal fuel economy. Usually for most of the vehicles, gas mileage will decrease if the speed is more than 50 mph.
- Tire pressure: Tire pressure frequently because the cold weather decreases tire pressure. It is one of the important factors causing better mileage and vehicle control. Keep the recommended range of tire pressure and check it periodically usually monthly. If you don’t have an air compressor go to the gas station and check while you go for gas. About five minutes of your time will help you to save more than five dollars per month.
- If you have a garage park your car in the garage. It will keep your car engine warmer than that you park outside.
- Don’t warm up your car engine while the car is idle. Gently drive for a few seconds. If you are driving the car will give faster warm up than idle.
- If you have short trips to do, combine them all. It makes you drive less with the cold engine.
- Don’t use the defrosters and seat warmers more than require. This is because they also use the gas and your mileage will decrease.
- Remove the unnecessary items that you keep in your vehicle especially heavy weighted items. Your mileage will decrease by two percent for an extra of hundred pounds weight. The weight will effect more on smaller vehicles than the larger ones.
- Idling your vehicle engine will consume quarter to a half gallon of the gas per hour. It is vary depending on the engine size and other things you are using in your vehicle.
When the engine oil and other fluids are cold due to the cold weather, they will increase friction in the engine. It will effect the mileage partly. The engine will take longer time to get the fuel efficient temperature. In gasoline engine it effects on gasoline and in case of hybrid vehicles it effects the battery performance.