Motoring: How we can all get a bit more from our fuel

WHATEVER YOUR VIEW on the tactics used at Whitegate, Foynes and Galway this week, the fuel blockades have done one useful thing: they’ve made visible something Irish motorists have quietly been living with for years. Our relationship with fossil fuel is not just expensive, it’s fragile. Cut off half the country’s distribution network for 72 hours and forecourts run dry.

I just went down to my local filling station in east Cork, and they don’t have any diesel. It is not a pleasant sight or sound hearing the kind forecourt operator trying to explain to an octogenarian that they don’t have fuel for them. There are much bigger topics at play here and let me be clear that I don’t wish to trivialise the real issues. But if all of this does anything useful, it might be that we pay a little more attention to how we use our fuel, because it teaches us all how disabling it can be when it is in short supply.

The electric vehicle drivers, for what it’s worth, have largely been gliding through the week unaffected. Even the most ardent EV naysayers must be starting to flinch a little as a result. Certainly it is being borne out in demand for the vehicles.

At DoneDeal Cars, we have seen a more than 100% increase in EV-specific searches in the weeks since the start of the Iran war.

Dealers are reporting a buoyant trade in used EVs as a result.

For the majority of Irish drivers, the ones with a petrol or diesel car, or a hybrid, they’re not entirely sure how to drive the question right now isn’t political. It’s practical. With pump prices at near-record levels, what can you actually do about it this week, without changing your car? Quite a lot, as it turns out.

Analysis by DoneDeal Cars suggests that an average Irish driver covering 17,000 kilometres per year could save up to €300 annually in fuel costs simply by changing how they drive, maintaining tyre pressure and planning journeys better. That is a decent amount of money. At current prices, it’s roughly three full tanks of diesel.

Petrol and diesel: the basics work

Smooth, progressive acceleration and anticipatory braking can reduce fuel consumption by up to 15% in real-world driving. That sounds marginal until you price it at €2.18 a litre. Tyre pressure is consistently underestimated. Running 10% below the manufacturer’s recommended level adds approximately 5% to annual fuel consumption. That’s the equivalent of a full tank of petrol given away for free every year. It is also a safety issue too. Set a reminder in your phone to do this once a month. It takes a few minutes to top up your tyres and it really does make a decent difference.

Excess weight is a silent drain that most drivers never think about. Roof racks, golf clubs in the boot, tools carried year-round, all of it costs you at the pump. Planning journeys for quieter periods, avoiding peak-hour stop-start traffic, and keeping to a steady motorway speed all have an outsized effect at current prices.

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Hybrids: you have to drive them like one

Hybrid searches on DoneDeal Cars have risen 43% since the fuel crisis began, which suggests a lot of Irish buyers are thinking about switching. For those already in one, though, the efficiency gains only materialise if you drive accordingly. The regenerative braking system which recovers energy when you slow down works best when you leave room to brake gradually. Harsh, last-second braking wastes that energy as heat.

Urban speeds of 40 to 60km/h are where self-charging hybrids deliver their best efficiency. At 120km/h on a motorway, the petrol engine does most of the work and the hybrid advantage largely disappears. If your commute takes you through towns and secondary roads rather than dual carriageways, your fuel gauge will reflect it.

PHEVs: the most misunderstood car on Irish roads

Here’s the insight that most PHEV owners don’t know, and probably should. A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle driven primarily on a depleted battery is not running as a hybrid. It’s carrying the full dead weight of an unused battery pack while running entirely on petrol. Counterintuitively, this makes it less efficient than a comparable conventional petrol car.

The fix is straightforward: charge it. Overnight, if possible.

Use the electric range which is typically 40 to 80 kilometres in modern PHEVs for school runs, commutes and local trips. Reserve the petrol engine for longer journeys. A well-managed PHEV can realistically achieve annual fuelling costs closer to €900. An uncharged one can cost you more than a basic petrol car to run. That gap is entirely within the driver’s control.

EVs: slower is significantly cheaper

EV charging costs have remained stable while petrol and diesel prices have surged, giving electric car owners a growing structural advantage. But efficiency still varies with behaviour. At 120km/h, energy consumption rises by around 30% compared to 100km/h.

Pre-conditioning the cabin while still plugged in — rather than drawing heat from the battery while driving — can add 10 to 15% to real-world range in cold weather. Most modern EVs allow this via a smartphone app.

The lesson from this week, if there is one beyond the politics, is that Irish drivers have less control over what they pay at the pump than they think and considerably more control over how much fuel they actually use. The two are not the same thing. One of them, at least, is entirely yours.

Paddy Comyn is the head of automotive content and communications with DoneDeal Cars. He has been involved in the Irish motor industry for more than 25 years.

Journal Media Ltd has shareholders in common with DoneDeal Ltd

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