The war that’s currently raging in Eastern Europe is causing global fuel prices to soar. Unfortunately, this has made traveling very difficult for a lot of people, and it’s becoming especially difficult for people who drive gas-guzzling vehicles like SUVs and pick-up trucks to get around.
One very popular pastime that’s suffering because of rising fuel prices is the road trip, a quintessentially American hobby. However, despite these exorbitant fuel costs, it’s still possible to go on road trips. This post will show you how you can save fuel on a road trip.
Electric Vehicles
If you’re planning a long-distance trip, you might want to consider investing in an electric vehicle. You don’t have to buy an electric vehicle; you can always lease one. However, buying an electric car or even a plug-in electric vehicle (PHEV) or hybrid will also allow you to save a lot of money on fuel in your day-to-day life. If daily fuel consumption isn’t a concern of yours, then an electric vehicle will do for the duration of your trip. If you will be taking one, make sure that you map out all charging stations along your chosen route. For example, Big Sur along Highway 1 in California is a route that has a lot of charging points located along it, so it’s perfect for electric vehicle drivers. Big Sur is also one of California’s (and arguably America’s) best road trip routes.
Vehicle Selection
If you do want to lease a vehicle but aren’t keen on an electric one, you still need to select a car carefully. You can minimize the amount of fuel that you consume on your trip by choosing a smaller vehicle and one with an engine that’s not especially powerful and therefore will have better gas mileage.
When leasing a car, you can ask the the company’s representative for advice regarding which car would be most suitable for your trip. Driving slower can also reduce fuel consumption; and besides, the slower you drive, the more of your surroundings you are able to take in, so the more you will get out of your road trip.
Mapping Stations
Before leaving for your trip, make sure that you carefully map all of your route’s fuel stations so that you know where you will be able to stop and fill up. According to the experts from this fuel-saving site, you can use their fuel comparison tool to compare fuel prices all over Australia.
Australia is a nation that’s very popular among road trippers, because of its large expanses of untouched wilderness and beautiful weather. However, because Australia is so wild, mapping fuel stations is especially important there. You can check out each station’s fuel prices using the comparison tool. Also, if you use Google maps to search for “gas stations” they often will show the day’s prices right on the map which can help you find the cheapest rate. There are other apps that do this too like Gas Buddy.
Losing Weight
The heavier your vehicle is, the more fuel it’ll burn. When you’re going away on a road trip, it’s easy to think that you’ll need to bring lots of things, but this isn’t true. As long as you have clean clothes and toiletries, you’ll be just fine.
In terms of entertainment, if you have a modern car, you should be able to listen to music or even podcasts using your car’s stereo, streamed from your mobile device. If you are going to bring a lot of things with you, choose the lightest things that you can for the sake of fuel efficiency.
Proper Preparation
Before going away on a road trip, you always need to prepare. Mapping fuel stations and comparing fuel prices is just one part of doing this; you also need to factor in things like cell service which, if you are traveling in places like Australia, can be a real problem.
For example, Australia’s Great Ocean Road is one of Oz’s most popular driving routes. Unfortunately, however, the Road is also notorious for having terrible cell reception. Make sure that your car has enough fuel before taking any routes with bad cell service, because if you break down you may not be able to call for help.
Anticipate Traffic
Fuel isn’t cheap at the moment. If you don’t factor in traffic, then you could end up burning a lot of it. Constantly having to stop and start your engine will burn a lot of fuel and mean that you have to fill up frequently, which in turn will mean that you waste a lot of money. Satellite navigation apps can help you to see where there’s traffic so that you can avoid it. Avoiding traffic will help you to preserve a lot of fuel.
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