The price of fuel in the United States has risen remarkably in the past 18-24 months. The average price of a gallon of fuel in states like California ranges between $5 and $7 per gallon. This is considerably high when you compare to the pre-Covid era which had the price of fuel selling for less than $2. Interestingly, the rise in fuel prices is not only associated with the United States. Other countries around the world have also seen drastic increases in the price of fuel.
In the United States, the Government is setting up measures to combat this hike in price which has seen the price drop sharply in June 2022. Of course, this is still high. But while the US government puts in the effort to combat fuel prices, there is a need for you to have some fuel-saving strategies under your belt that would help you and your fleet drivers save fuel in yet another period of energy crisis.
The goal is to be energy efficient and avoid unnecessary burnout and wastage when you are refilling your tank.
Here are 8 simple strategies for you, your driving team and/or your rental clients.
#1) Fill the tanks early in the morning.
You read right!! You should fill your cars, trucks, and/or vans early in the morning. You might be curious to know why you should fill in the morning. It’s because of the impact of temperature on storage tanks.
Pump storage tanks are located underneath the ground therefore the temperature of the ground would always affect the density of the fuel. Cold temperatures make the fuel dense and of course, hot temperature makes the fuel less dense. Refueling during hot temperature periods like in the afternoon would result in buying expanded fuel which would be lower in volume. However, buying during cold temperatures is vice versa. That is, the gas would expand less and have more volume. Buying under cold temperatures means you are maximizing volume by avoiding losses due to the effect of temperature. Because temperature has a lot of effect on the volume and density of gasoline.
#2) Avoid squeezing the nozzle trigger.
A lot of fleet drivers are fond of squeezing the nozzle trigger to a fast or quick mode. Actually, the pump trigger has about 3 different modes which are the low, middle, and high.
The best mode to deliver fuel efficiently is low because it creates less vapor and thus more volume of fuel can be pumped per time. Note that all pump hoses have vapor return so if you pump fuel at a fast rate, you would generate vapor in the process, and guess what?? Some of the vapor gets returned to the vapor hoses which suck back part of the fuel and then you end up buying less than you paid for.
#3) Fill up your tank halfway.
This is very important and yet many don’t know about it. Filling your tank halfway is the best way and time to refill your tank. Filling an empty or almost empty tank can cause some volume of fuel to escape due to pressure generated while filling an empty tank.
On the other hand, filling a half-full tank would reduce the tendency of having trapped oxygen in the tank and also reduce the volume of gas that would evaporate while filling the tank at the gas station.
#4) Fill your Tanks optimally
Another strategy to utilize is to fill your tank optimally. Avoiding overfilling it. This is because when you overfill the tank you could lose small volumes of gas in the process. Just as squeezing the trigger, some of the fuel gets converted to vapor which is then sucked back into the pump due to pressure and other physical factors. You then end up buying less than you paid for.
#5) Avoid buying premium gas, if not required
While it might be true that some vehicles require strictly premium gas. Some vehicles can do just fine without premium gas. Find out if your fleet vehicles can actually do without premium fuel and just go for the regular to save cost. Of course, you know that premium gas is more expensive than regular. To know if your car can run on other gas or fuel, check the car’s manual.
#6) Gauge your tires
This might be surprising to some. There is a correlation between fuel conservation and properly gauged tires. A properly gauged tire would save fuel more than a poorly gauged tire. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, for every 1 psi (Pounds per square inch) missing from a car’s set of 4 tires, there is a loss of about 0.1 percent of gas mileage. So while at the gas station, ensure that the tires are inflated optimally.
#7) Use a good grades of engine oil
Engine oils are lubricants that help to ensure the proper functioning of the car engine. Unfortunately, not every oil is good for your vehicle. Bad engine oil does more harm than good.
A bad engine could at worst result in damaging the engine and so you have to be careful with the type of oil used. That said, certain types of engine oil tend to speed up the rate of fuel consumption while some other engine oils are good at helping to save fuel. This means you have to pay attention to it. Usually, low viscous oil tends to save fuel compared to a high viscous oil.
So make sure you use good oil to save fuel.
#8) Watch for Gas Trucks (Safety Precaution)
If you are at the gas station and you notice that a gasoline truck is just offloading fuel. Ensure that you don’t fill up at that moment of unloading. This is because during the process of offloading there is a tendency that some of the dirt in the truck might be offloaded in the gas.
These specks of dirt may find their way into your tank and may cause problems later.
In summary
The need for these strategies is borne out of the fact that fuel is a volatile commodity, and because it is volatile some volumes of fuel could easily be lost. This means you might end up paying more for less of a volume because of carelessness and sometimes ignorance of the proper things to do for significant fuel savings.
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