Posted on Monday 21 April 2008
We’ve all heard the stories of drivers led into - or under - water, up one-way streets and down too-narrow carriage ways by their well-meaning satellite navigation devices, but a recent study shows the GPS-linked helpers can actually cut your fuel bill by up to 16 percent.
The savings comes from trimming extra distance off each trip, according to a study cited by TomTom general manager Giles Shrimpton. The total savings add up - as much as 16 percent of total distance can be cut, meaning less fuel is burned and fewer emissions leave the tailpipe, reports Wards Auto. The same study also showed that using a
navigation system in unfamiliar areas can reduce dangerous or illegal driving by 82 percent.
“We believe navigation is very important for safety and the environment,” Shrimpton said.
Today also marks the release of Honda’s crime-warning sat-nav system in Japan. Also focused on safety, though in a different manner, the Honda system will be available only in Honda cars, while TomTom’s personal navigation devices are sold separately, and can be installed in any car.
The company is working to secure some factory-installed deals, however. But it also likes its position as a standalone device maker, which allows the company lower costs, quicker upgrade and development cycles and greater brand recognition.
So how did they get their baseline? or how are they calculating this? Also IIRC, there was a study done on slow moving traffic produces more pollution than fast moving traffic.
These things don’t save fuel, they save marriages…
I doubt they save fuel, they tend to lead you to main roads that’s very congested. Where’s the fuel saving coming from when you’re stuck in traffic?
ben: good question about the base line.
gus; trust me.. I know exactly what you mean. if anything, it gives everyone an electronic scape goat, and god knows you cant really fight with a GPS read out.
alan: the congestion is a good point but i think the newer services are pretty good at telling you where the congestion is. and as far as mileage is concerned, you ARE better off going out of your way to hit a smooth flowing highway. at least when it comes to gasoline powered cars.
hybrid systems and even more so with electric cars, the efficiency is better at lower speeds because the typical losses that we’re used to with the starting and stopping are nearly negated.
electric and hybrid cars use the electrical resistance of the batteries recharging to recover almost all of the energy that it takes to stop. and then it reapplies that energy to start back up again. an electric car cruising at 50 mph uses up only enough power to break the drag. as it slows down, it recovers all of the kinetic energy, at a high efficiency (where gas engines are 33% efficient, electric drives are 95% or higher efficient). the car stops, and then uses all of that stored energy (plus a little extra to cover to losses) to get back up to 50 mph.
with electric cars, we may soon see the day where the shortest distance traveled is the most efficient one, and the slowest route you can afford is also the most efficient.