As the price of fuel continues to rise month-on-month, it may be a smart move to know exactly how much fuel your car consumes. The Automobile Association (AA) says that calculating just how efficient your car is on fuel will help your budget more accurately.

“It is estimated 8% more fuel can be used on a return intercity trip when air conditioning is used for most of the journey,” the AA said speaking to BusinessTech. “In hot summer months, this can most definitely affect your fuel consumption negatively, especially when you’re sitting in peak-time traffic.”

The following factors may be affecting your car’s fuel consumption:

– Air conditioning

– Humidity

– Traffic density

– Irregular servicing

– Air temperature

– The way you drive

 

The AA also outlined the following steps to ensure your fuel consumption numbers are more accurate:

– Fill up your tank.

– Set your Odometer to zero.

– Drive your car as you normally would, such as to work and back, and stick to the same routes.

– Drive until your Odometer reaches 400 kilometres.

– Make sure to write down the distance you have traveled, as well as how many litres of fuel was consumed.

“Now, you’ll be able to calculate your car’s efficiency, based on how you normally drive,” the AA said.

 

To calculate your car’s fuel efficiency, do as follows:

– Divide the distance traveled by the number of litres consumed.

– This will give you the kilometres traveled per litre of fuel consumed.

– To convert to km/litre to litres/100km, divide 1oo by km/litre.

This will show you how fuel efficient your car is.

 

Picture: Pixabay

Article written by

Lucinda is a hard news writer who occasionally dabbles in lifestyle writing, and recent journalism graduate. She is a proud intersectional feminist, and is passionate about actively creating a world which is free of discrimination and inequality.