Travelling on the green
EcoRun contest proves your driving style really can affect a vehicle’s fuel efficiency
FREDERICTON, N.B.— Jim Kerr, a journalist from Saskatoon, won the coveted green jersey at the seventh annual EcoRun. He accumulated the best overall score in two days of driving through pictur- esque New Brunswick, in a competition run by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC). The event pitted 20 cars and trucks from 14 manufacturers — all of which lay claim to being particularly fuel-efficient.
The event started in Moncton, moving to Saint John and then ending up in the provincial capital of Fredericton. The drivers were all members of AJAC, from coast almost to coast.
There were six driving legs over the two days. Obviously, not every journalist could drive every car, so each of us was asked to choose the ones we most wanted to drive, and the organizers did their best to accommodate our wishes.
Equally obviously, scoring such an event is a challenge. Not only does everyone not drive the same cars, they drive their selections over different components of the route.
In the earliest days of EcoRun, it was simply a matter of calculating the fuel used on each leg and comparing it to the Transport Canada fuel consump- tion numbers for that model. Whoever beat the TC measures by the greatest aggregated amount won the green jersey. With the advent of hybrid, electric and fuel-cell vehicles, the calculations get even more difficult because there is no one-to-one correlation of energy use numbers for the different types of powertrains.
But by whatever measuring system, Kerr did significantly better than everyone else. I asked him his secret.
“Can’t say I had a master strategy,” he said at the awards ceremony.
“Obviously, I didn’t boot it very hard. I tried to keep to the speed limit, as we were asked to do, letting off on the throttle down hills and keeping uphill speeds moderate. I kept the air conditioning off most of the time but, if it got really hot, I’d switch it on briefly. I also kept the windows closed at highway speeds, because the drag from open windows increases fuel consumption, and sometimes opened them in town.”
In other words, he drove sensibly. In fact, almost every journalist managed to surpass the Natural Resources Canada fuel-consumption ratings for their specific vehicles, proof it can actually be done.
I drove the Chevrolet Equinox diesel, the Ford Fusion Energi hybrid, the Honda Clarity fuel cell, the Honda Clarity plug-in hybrid, the Mazda6 SkyActiv-G and the Nissan Leaf electric.
The three vehicles that most impressed me were the two oldest technologies and the most modern.
The Equinox diesel, using a century-old combustion process, moved the mid-size SUV with alacrity, it was quiet and it returned an impressive 5.2 L/100 km in mixed urban and country driving.
The Mazda6 SkyActiv is a combination of old and new technology. The engine runs essentially on a diesel-like high-compression ratio ignition cycle, but uses gasoline instead of diesel. Lots of torque, quiet running, no stinky exhaust and an outstanding 4.6 L/100 km in mixed driving.
The most modern vehicle I drove was the Honda Clarity fuel-cell vehicle. Hydrogen is obviously the fuel of the future. It is the most abundant element in the universe. You get it by cracking water into its component elements, hydrogen and oxygen. And when you burn the hydrogen, the only exhaust emission is water.
Canada is at the forefront of hydrogen technology. It is well past time that our governments start moving us toward our inevitable hydrogen future.
Throughout its history, AJAC’s EcoRun has proven that more fuel-efficient driving is there for the taking, no matter what vehicle you drive.
A little common sense pays off big time in your own wallet.