What We Measure Is Important

What we measure is important. It shows the things we are preoccupied with as a society and it enables individual action. We don't measure that which we consider unimportant. It is impossible to act consistently if you have no feedback on what you are doing. The fact that our cars all have odometers for measuring distance traveled and speedometers for showing how fast we are going but no instrument to show the instantaneous gas mileage (ie gallons per hundred miles or GPHM) shows how little Americans think about fuel. Gasoline is considered to be something which will always be so cheap and available that it is not worth measuring. The lack of such an instrument makes it hard to adjust your driving habits to improve fuel economy. However, throughout the world attitudes are starting to change. For example, in Britain all homes are going to be fitted with new electricity meters that show the instantaneous consumption, so that homeowners can see the energy cost of turning on an appliance or activating the air conditioning. You can upgrade the instrument panel of your car to show you instant fuel usage by installing something like the scangauge. I believe that all cars should be required to include in their instrumentation a meter showing instantaneous fuel economy. That would both make us think about saving on gas and make it a lot easier to learn how to do it.

Lower the Rolling Resistance of Your Tires

The two external sources of resistance to your car's motion are air drag and tire friction. Using low rolling resistance tires can improve your gas mileage by up to 5%. In the past tires with lower rolling resistance usually wore out really quickly or had poor traction, especially on wet roads. Having to replace tires often will defeat any savings on gas with the increased tire cost. However, modern day technology is now able to make low rolling resistance tires without compromising wear or traction. One of the key innovations has been to reduce the weight of the tires and increase the stiffness only in the areas that flex the most.

Tire Rack did a series of tests on new generation tires. I was interested to notice that they used the ScanGauge II in the tests. Tests covered fuel economy, ride comfort, noise comfort, road handling, wet and dry braking and wet and dry cornering. The conclusion? Modern low rolling resistance tires will save on gas without giving up on handling, wear or comfort.

Monitor Your Gas Mileage

Driving habits are among the biggest contributors to saving on gas. But it is difficult to improve your driving without knowing how you are doing. Instantaneous feedback lets you know if a particular tip or trick actually works for example. The scangauge II is a little computer than plugs into the standardized diagnostics port under your dash. It reports the instantaneous and average gas mileage. Unfortunately it reports in MPG, not in GPHM which would be better. The video has an interview with an executive from the company that makes the ScanGauge II. Like he says, with this device saving gas while you drive becomes like a video game.