What is Eco Driving?

Eco driving is a way of driving that reduces fuel consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and accident rates.

The Eco Driving idea is to adopt a driving style that suits today’s modern engine technology. Its ‘smart, smooth and safe’ driving techniques can yield fuel savings in the region of 10%, with the additional benefits of lower CO2 emissions and reduced noise levels.

Eco driving has been used on the continent for a number of years and in many countries is now included in their learner driving programs.

The European Climate Change Programme (ECCP) calculated in 2001 that within Europe , driver education and eco driving programmes could lead to a reduction of CO2 emissions equivalent to that of 15 million cars by the year 2010.

Despite this level of success with our EU counterparts, the UK has been slow to follow. Although pilot schemes have been developed by the Driving Standards Agency here in the UK it is not something average motorist is that aware of.

Despite the developments made in producing fuel efficient engines and cars that have lower emissions, very few drivers know how to get the best out of their engines.

The Benefits of Eco driving
Technical developments have led to great improvements in official vehicle emissions tests. However, as few drivers know how to get the best out of their engines these official improvements in mpg figures are rarely achieved.

In modern fuel-injected engines, high torque is produced even at low rpm. Eco driving aims to keep engines working as efficiently as possible by keeping engine speed between 2000 – 3000 rpm and torque around 200 to give the most effective speed/load combination.

There are also many environmental, economical and personal benefits to Eco driving. It has the potential for considerable fuel savings and therefore reducing CO2 emissions. Local air quality will be improved as will noise levels. Vehicle repair and maintenance costs also reduce.

The anticipatory driving style of Eco driving, results in safer driving with reduced speed, less overtaking and less accidents. Drivers also find this a less stressful and tiring way to drive.