Driving More Efficiently

Drive Sensibly
Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration and braking) wastes gas. It can lower your gas mileage by 33 percent at highway speeds and by 5 percent around town. Sensible driving is also safer for you and others, so you may save more than gas money.
Fuel Economy Benefit : 5-33%
Equivalent Gasoline Savings : $0.08-$0.55/gallon

Observe the Speed Limit
While each vehicle reaches its optimal fuel economy at a different speed (or range of speeds), gas mileage usually decreases rapidly at speeds above 60 mph.
You can assume that each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an additional $0.24 per gallon for gas. Observing the speed limit is also safer.
Fuel Economy Benefit : 7-23%
Equivalent Gasoline Savings : $0.12-$0.38/gallon


Remove Excess Weight
Avoid keeping unnecessary items in your vehicle, especially heavy ones. An extra 100 pounds in your vehicle could reduce your MPG by up to 2%. The reduction is based on the percentage of extra weight relative to the vehicle's weight and affects smaller vehicles more than larger ones.
Fuel Economy Benefit : 1-2%/100 lbs
Equivalent Gasoline Savings: $0.02-$0.03/gallon

Avoid Excessive Idling
Idling gets 0 miles per gallon. Cars with larger engines typically waste more gas at idle than do cars with smaller engines.

Use Cruise Control
Using cruise control on the highway helps you maintain a constant speed and, in most cases, will save gas.

Use Overdrive Gears
When you use overdrive gearing, your car's engine speed goes down. This saves gas and reduces engine wear.

Gasoline Fuels

Auto mobile automover car shipping parts transport engine system

EPA regulations require that each automobile manufacturer or importer of gasoline, diesel fuel, or a fuel economy additive have its product registered prior to its automobile introduction into commerce. In some cases, EPA requires testing of these automobile fuels and fuel additives for possible health effects. EPA also requires that gasoline contain a certified detergent in order to reduce fuel emissions. EPA issued standards in 1973 that called for a gradual phase-down of lead to reduce the automover health risks from lead fuel emissions from gasoline, culminating in the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and EPA regulations banning lead in motor automobile parts automobile vehicle gasoline after 1995.

Beginning in 1989, EPA required gasoline to meet volatility standards to decrease evaporative emissions of gasoline fuels in the automover parts summer months when ozone levels are typically at their highest. In the early 1990s, EPA began monitoring the winter oxygenated automobile fuels program implemented by the states to help control fuel emissions of carbon monoxide during the winter months, and established the reformulated gasoline (RFG) program to reduce fuel emissions of smog-forming and toxic pollutants.

More recently, EPA promulgated new regulations automobile parts setting standards for gasoline fuels toxics performance levels and standards for low sulfur gasoline fuels to reduce harmful air pollution and help ensure the automobile effectiveness of advanced emission control technologies in automobile vehicles.