Gas prices are at historically high levels and the long term trend is indicating more of the same for American drivers. If you operate one or more vehicles, you know that saving money somewhere, anywhere is important to maintaining your budget. Here are 9 tips to help you be financially wise when it comes to managing your car expenses.
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Biodiesel is a form of diesel fuel made from vegetable oils, primarily corn oil and soy bean oil. Because the oils used are plant products, biodiesel is considered a natural and renewable fuel alternative. Currently, biodiesel is the only alternative fuel that’s been approved by the EPA. It burns clean and doesn’t contribute to either smog or global warming. It also doesn’t release cancer-causing compounds into the air like petroleum products can. But don’t think it’s a miracle cure to our nation’s fossil fuel addiction.
Biodiesel is more expensive than petroleum because of the manufacturing process used to produce it. An alcohol – methanol in most cases – has to be introduced into the vegetable oils to separate out the glycerine and methyl esters. The glycerine byproduct has many uses, including making soap, so producing biodiesel results in very little waste. However, large scale facilities for the production of biodiesel do not exist at present, so any cost analysis of biodiesel must include the cost of growing the necessary plant crops, processing them and shipping the fuel. However, any true cost analysis must also look not only at the financial costs of producing biodiesel fuel, but also at the environmental advantages that clean burning biodiesel offers.
Most people’s first introduction to biodiesel has been the “bootleg” form that’s produced by recycling used cooking oils, usually obtained from local restaurants by committed environmentalists. This home brew isn’t considered a legal form of biodiesel as there’s no way to monitor the production process to ensure the fuel meets quality standards.
One of the advantages of using biodiesel is that it can readily be used in most diesel engines without the need for any expensive or inconvenient modifications. Biodiesel actually helps clean diesel engines – you’ll actually need to change fuel filters frequently until all the petroleum sludge has been removed from the engine.
Biodiesel is currently available “neat,” or blended with petroleum fuel. B100 refers to 100 percent biodiesel fuel, while the most common mix is B20, a combination of 20 percent biodiesel by volume mixed with 80 percent petroleum by volume.
The National Biodiesel Board has run numerous tests on biodiesel to assess its performance, and after logging more than 50 million test miles – including street miles, off road miles and marine miles – the Board has found that biodiesel did as well as petroleum in all tested categories, including hauling, climbing, efficiency and power.
The feasibility of using biodiesel as the primary fuel source in any country is dependent on a number of factors. First, most consumer vehicles aren’t diesel, but run on gasoline instead. Second, there are the issues of mass production and distribution. These are considerable hurdles that would have to be overcome before biodiesel could be considered a wide scale, viable alternative.
However, in areas where processing plants are available, it may make sense to convert state or government diesel vehicles to biodiesel. In addition, as the US seeks to reduce its dependence on foreign oils, developing US-based biodiesel plants may become a more viable alternative.
When you look at the mpg – miles per gallon – rating for a car, you may wonder if you’ll actually be able to get that number when you drive the car. That depends on a number of different factors, but there are several steps you can take to maximize your car’s mpg.
You may have heard that jackrabbit starts – more formally known as quick acceleration – and quick stopping can reduce your mpg. What you may not know is that you can lose up to 33 percent of your mpg with this kind of driving. So forget the jackrabbit – slow and steady really does win the race, especially when it comes to increasing your car’s gas mileage.
And although most cars are designed for aerodynamics, exceeding normal highway speeds can reduce your fuel economy. Other things that interfere with your car’s aerodynamics – like cargo racks, for example – can also reduce your fuel efficiency.
While towing a trailer also affects the aerodynamics of your car, it’s the extra weight that really decreases your fuel economy. EPA testing assumes only 300 pounds of passengers and cargo, and two healthy adults could exceed that amount on their own. If you plan on hauling your boat or camper this summer, plan to pay a little extra for gas.
In addition, to operate efficiently, your engine needs to be broken in. On new cars, this can take anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 miles. Your car engine should also be operating at optimal temperature. This means that driving in cold weather or making short trips, can reduce your fuel economy because your engine doesn’t reach this temperature. The EPA says letting your car idle to warm up doesn’t really help – it actually burns more gas to let the car idle than you can save by letting the engine warm up.
Speaking of temperature, the car’s internal temperature can make a difference in your gas mileage too if you’re running the air conditioner. Running the air conditioner on its maximum setting, for example, can reduce your mpg up to 25 percent. Other electrical accessories can reduce fuel economy as well.
Also, EPA mileage tests assume you’re driving on level ground, so if you’re doing a lot of traveling on mountainous, hilly terrain or on rough, unpaved roads, expect your mpg to be a little less. The same goes for 4-wheeling – using all 4 wheels means the engine works harder and burns more fuel. Optional 4-wheel drive models are always tested in 2-wheel drive mode to improve the mpg ratings.
The other things that can make a difference in your fuel economy are the things you’ve been hearing for some time. Keep your engine properly tuned, keep your tires properly inflated and aligned, and keep your air filter clean – especially if you have an older car with a carburetor.
Know also that gas can vary. In summer, gas provides more energy than in the winter, and oxygenated fuels or RFGs (reformulated gasoline) can reduce fuel economy.
Of course, some of the things that affect your car’s mpg are beyond your control, like the state of the roads on which you have to drive. Other things you can do involve your own personal driving habits, like avoiding jackrabbit starts and keeping your car well maintained.
After a dramatic falloff in the price of oil, it seems oil is creeping back up. It just closed over $58/barrel. Many had forgotten about fuel efficiency, but it seems it may come back in the news in short order.
Last summer when gas was approaching $5 a gallon, fuel-efficient vehicles were all the rage. Dealerships were so desperate to sell their vehicles that they offered “price locks” on fuel of $2.99 a gallon, which at the time seemed like a steal. “Smart” cars, the car that almost has a higher miles-per-gallon rating than it does horsepower, were all the rage. People thought that spending $15,000 on these glorified mopeds was a sensible solution to the wallet-crippling fuel prices.
As people have a way of doing, they overreacted big time.
Gas is now at or under $2 a gallon in most parts of the country. Those who leased or bought hybrids or other vehicles that sacrifice power for fuel efficiency are feeling mighty foolish right now. The pendulum has swung back the other way in full force. Now the question that is left to ask is: will anyone buy hybrids now?
GM is sure praying they do. In addition to all of their other problems, one of their biggest projects, the electrically-charged Volt, is slated to be released sometime in the next 18 months. People are already reluctant to buy a car that requires being plugged into the wall as it is. With gas at $2 a gallon, GM might as well not even bother trying to market the Volt.
On average, vehicles with a hybrid engine cost about $4,000 more than their gas-only counterparts. For someone who drives a lot, it was conceivable to recoup this savings (and then some) when gas was at $4/gallon and climbing. Now it is almost impossible to justify the purchase of a hybrid over a standard engine. The savings at the pump from doing so is almost negligible when you account for the sacrifice in power.
However, much in the same way that it was sensible for those who wanted a Hummer to purchase one last summer (when dealers were slashing prices like crazy to get the gas-guzzlers off their lots), the perfect buying time for Hybrid vehicles could be now! It’s a safe bet that, eventually, gas prices will come back up. It might not happen in the next couple of months, but odds are that in a year or two, we’ll be faced with gas price concerns all over again. This is especially true now that Obama is about to take office. While his opponent in the general election was calling for offshore drilling to help ease prices, Obama’s focus has never been on working to keep prices low. He is more interested in developing alternative energy sources.
They say “when it rains, it pours.” This could especially be the case for increasing gas prices that will inevitably happen at some point in Obama’s administration.
A truly viable alternative energy source is still a decade away, at least. When the economy recovers and people start traveling more than ever before, you can bet gas prices will increase. Now could be the perfect time for those interested in owning a hybrid to make their move. Just because it seems counter-intuitive doesn’t mean it’s a mistake. Ask the three people savvy enough to have purchased a Hummer at a basement bargain discount six months ago.
