Tips to conserve fuel on road trips

Road trips remind drivers of just how thrilling the open road can be. For millions of individuals, nothing provides a sense of escapism as effectively as the open road.

Though road trips can be liberating, they do not allow a complete escape from reality, something drivers realize when the time comes to fill up the gas tank. Gas prices fell considerably by mid-December 2023, dipping to an average of $3.12 per gallon of regular by the middle of that month according to data from AAA. That marked a significant decline from just a month earlier, when prices for a gallon of regular gas averaged $3.36. But drivers know prices can spike just as quickly as they drop, so it pays dividends to recognize strategies to conserve fuel. Such strategies can be especially beneficial for drivers about to embark on a road trip.

Slow down. Pushing the pedal to the medal might be a romantic, if unsafe, notion of how to drive on a road trip. But that approach can be costly at the pump. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, every five miles per hour motorists drive over 50 miles per hour is the equivalent of paying $0.30 more per gallon of gas. That estimate is based on a gallon of gas costing $4.32, but drivers can still conserve a considerable amount of fuel by slowing down.

Steer clear of city driving. The stop-and-go traffic that is a hallmark of city driving can compromise fuel efficiency. The Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy notes that rapid acceleration and braking, which is hard to avoid when driving through cities with lots of stoplights and pedestrians, can lower gas mileage by as much as 40 percent.

Avoid rooftop cargo. Rooftop cargo boxes might be a necessity when a car is packed with passengers. But these luxuries come at a steep cost. A study from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory found that rooftop cargo boxes can reduce fuel efficiency by as much as 17 percent on the highway and as much as 25 percent on interstates where drivers drive at speeds between 65 and 75 miles per hour. The DOE reports that rear-mount cargo boxes are much more efficient, so drivers looking to conserve fuel may want to pack light and/or opt for rear-mount cargo boxes instead of rooftop boxes.

Utilize cruise control. The auto manufacturer Kia estimates that utilizing the cruise control function on a vehicle can save drivers as much as 14 percent on fuel. Cruise control is not advisable when driving in cities or on roads with stoplights. However, when driving on interstates, driving at the same continuous speed helps drivers avoid constant accelerations and decelerations, which compromise fuel efficiency.

When the open road beckons, drivers can make their road trips more affordable by implementing various strategies to conserve fuel.