Drivers can easily save $130 a year without big performance concessions, researcher says
Wednesday, March 13, 2013 - 07:00
in Physics & Chemistry
Drivers can make fuel savings of as much as 12% by shifting up to a higher gear sooner, without having the feeling that they're sacrifcing too much performance. That's the finding of a graduation project by an Automotive Technology Master's student at TU/e. His 46 test subjects made average fuel savings of 6% – often to their own surprise – by finding the most economical gear-shifting strategy that still gave them acceptable performance. That means drivers can easily save 100 euro ($130) or more per year on fuel costs.