Fuel and fuel consumption
General facts regarding fuel and types of fuels
- For already about 25 years there is no lead in petrol anymore, petrol nowadays is completely 'lead-free'.
- Of all fuels used in Swedish road traffic, more than 90% comes from fossil sources.
- A particle filter on a diesel engine filters out about 95% of the harmful particles. Which means that without a particle filter about 2000% more particles will be emitted, which is a huge difference.
- Biogas and other biofuels do not contribute to the greenhouse effect. Biogas is therefore a better option regarding the greenhouse effect than natural gas, petrol or diesel.
- Biofuels do not contribute to the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, since biofuels are produced by living organisms (like trees), and these organisms would otherwise consume the carbon dioxide and would later be released anyways. So simply said biofuels are neutral when it comes to the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; they do not increase, nor decrease the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
- There is only one type of diesel being sold in Sweden, which is enviromental class 1.
- Petrol, diesel and natural gas all belong to the category 'fossil fuels'. But biofuels (like ethanol and biogas) are referred to as 'renewable fuels', not fossil fuels. And fossil fuels contribute most to the overabundance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
- A hybrid car is a car that can be driven by two types of fuels, both a combustion engine and an electric motor.
Fuel consumption
- If you’re about to drive down a somewhat steep slope, the best way to drive is to; let the gas pedal come up a bit while going down, near the bottom of the slope you gas more, then keep a constant pressure on the gas pedal when going up.
But if the slope downwards is very steep than you can let go of the gas pedal completely, but if the slope then goes up again from the bottom then you start to gas a bit again before reaching the bottom.
- A petrol engine that has a catalytic converter generally uses more fuel during shorter distances than during longer distances. This is due to during the first 5 kilometres more petrol is used and more carbon dioxide is emitted, about 35% more than compared to longer distances.
- When you’re driving at 110 km/h, you can reduce the fuel consumption with around 10% by reducing your speed to 100 km/h.
- In general you should always switch off the engine while waiting at a railway crossing to save fuel, especially if the train is going very slow and is very long, in order to lower the fuel consumption.
- A four-wheel driven car uses up till 10% more fuel compared to a two-wheel driven car.
- Wider tires increase the fuel consumption, because these result in more rolling resistance and air resistance.
- The last decades there have been tremendous improvements regarding the fuel consumption of newly produced cars, nowadays the average fuel consumption is, for instance, only about 60% as compared to in the 1970s.
- If you’re about to start traveling by gps and you see that there are two routes, and of these routes is for instance 80 km and the other route 90 km, then it does not nessecarrily have to mean that the 80 km route will use less fuel.
If the 80km route has a lot of stops for stop lights, conjunctions, etcetera (for instance if it passes many cities), but the 90km route goes only on highways, then the 90km route could be a more environmental friendly and cost-efficient option. Because often slowing down, stopping and accelarating uses more fuel compared to driving constantly at the same speed.
- You can save fuel by trying to avoid driving in heavy traffic, because that means that you need to slow down, stop and accelerate often, and this uses more fuel compared to driving constantly at the same speed.
- In order to keep the fuel consumption as low as possible you should keep the acceleration time (pressing down the gas pedal) as short as possible, but you should also not accelerate explosively. The best is to accelerate in a decisive manner, rather quickly, while keeping the rpm under 3.000.
- Engine braking means that you slow down the speed by releasing the accelator, braking less with your foot, and shift down the gears. This reduces the fuel consumption.
- When the air pressure of your car’s tires is too low, the fuel consumption will increase.
- Using the air condition results in a higher burden on the engine which leads to an increase in fuel consumption.
- The heavier the load you have in your car, the higher the fuel consumption will be.
- From an environmental perspective manual transmissions are more preferable than automatic transmissions.
- Having the engine heater connected for a longer period than is actually recommended only results in more energy being used.
- Having a roof box on the roof of your car means more air resistance which leads to an increased fuel consumption, so when you’re not using the roof box then you should remove it.
- By driving environmental friendly, fuel consumption can be reduced by 4 to 10 %, and sometimes even more. Economic driving includes; skipping gears, keeping an even speed, accelerating firmly but not to fast, avoiding braking hard and stopping often, driving in high gears.
- A cold start is when you start the car when it’s cold outside and the engine isn't preheated. A cold start uses more fuel and leads to an increased release of hazardous substances.