How to save fuel — with tech!

SINGAPORE — Filling your car’s petrol tank is a necessary cost that all drivers must bear. However, since not everybody can regularly head north across the border to exploit the currency exchange rates; how can drivers here cut down on fuel expenses?

Well, here are some handy tips to help you cut down on your visits to the petrol station, as well as maximise your mileage, to ensure that you squeeze the most out of every drop of fuel.

USE A TRAFFIC APP TO PLAN YOUR ROUTE. You can start saving fuel even before you head out of home, simply by having some foresight and planning your route. The logic is simple: the shortest and least congested route uses the less fuel, and if you know which is the fastest way to go, chances are you won’t burn as much petrol travelling extra kilometres or wasting them while stuck in a jam.

Planning your route is so easy nowadays, with a myriad of navigation and traffic apps available out there to help you out. The default choice for most people is Google Maps, but another favourite is Waze, which uses real-time info from actual users to tell you what’s happening on the road. You can also use the Land Transport Authority (LTA)’s MyTransport app, which offers information on traffic conditions such as traffic jams, vehicle breakdowns and accidents, along with a host of other information about the weather, ERP and parking, to help you plan your route.

MONITOR AND ADJUST YOUR DRIVING STYLE. What you want to do when driving efficiently is to avoid excessive movements such as acceleration or braking, so anticipate the traffic conditions and ensure that you are as smooth as possible on the pedals. If you can, try to coast — not touching the pedals and using the car’s momentum to move itself, in a safe manner, of course. On straighter and flatter roads, you can also use the cruise control function (if your car has it).

You may want to consider utilising telematics, which tracks real-time usage data such as speed and mileage, among other driving information, to give you a better idea of your driving style. Telematics is now increasingly being used by insurance companies to track driver information (and adjust premiums accordingly).

In Singapore, NTUC Income recently launched a new scheme called Drive Master, which comes bundled with an app to help drivers collect and monitor relevant driving data. In return, existing customers who are ‘safe’ drivers get a discount on their insurance premiums, in addition to the fuel savings they already get from driving efficiently.

KNOW YOUR CAR. A car that is kept in tip-top condition will run at its most optimum, so it is definitely worthwhile to pay a little attention to it. Keep your car clean, avoid unnecessary modifications and have it serviced regularly and you’ll probably be able to keep your fuel bills down.

If you fancy yourself as a bit of an amateur mechanic, then there are quite a number of apps that you can plug into your car’s On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) system and tell you plenty about your car. One such app is OBD Auto Doctor, which offers pretty detailed information about everything you need to know. Of course, you need to have some knowledge about your car’s inner workings, but if you think it’s worth the effort, then it can be quite interesting to know what needs attention and which areas exactly that you (or your mechanic) need to work on.

A version of this story first appeared in Stuff Singapore.