More and more these days, fuel efficiency is a factor when planning a trip. Here are our Top 10 Tips For Saving Fuel when leaving on a caravaning holiday.
- Plan your route well. Remember that the shortest route is not always the cheapest!
- Travel in dead of night, or dawn … and the road is all yours!
- If you find yourself in stationary traffic, turn off the engine.
- Remember that the top-box significantly increases fuel consumption! Try to get everything inside the caravan.
- Try to maintain a constant speed, but don’t use cruise control. Cruise control is reactive, so lost momentum on inclines is made up for with big throttle inputs!
- Do not fill reservoirs immediately upon departure, fill only what is necessary for the trip.
- The weight increases consumption, on average per additional 100 kg increases by 0.3 litres.
- Tires with low pressure (- 0.2 bar) increase fuel consumption by 10%.
- Use a wind deflector. The idea behind this fuel-saving aid is that it deflects the wind up and away from the caravan’s bluff front end.
- Keep your speed down. At higher speeds, wind resistance is the main killer to fuel economy. At around 80km/h a vehicle’s wind resistance will overtake rolling resistance as the chief source of drag. Cruising at around 90-95km/h in 100km/h or 110km/h zones will not make you a dangerous road block for other road users and your vehicle will use less fuel than if you go faster. But be sensible about this; if you notice you have a long line of vehicles behind you on a single-lane road, do everyone a favour by pulling over and letting the traffic pass.
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