With gas approaching $3.00 per gallon, we need ways to save. I present 11 tips that can save you up to 30% on your car gas bill.

Tips for saving on your ballooning gas bill

I recently set a record that I’m not happy about. I was actually able to put $53.00 worth of gas into my mini-van. Holy smokes, that really hurts! I’m sure you are setting similar records on a weekly basis. At this rate, it’s going to cost more to fuel up your car than to pay for the car itself!

Well, unless you walk everywhere, you’re going to have to keep buying gas, but there are some things that you can do to reduce your fuel expense. Some of these you’ve probably heard before, some of them may be new!

1) Don’t jump off the starting line. Your car is a mass which has to be accelerated (by gas and your engine) and decelerated (by your breaks). Rapid acceleration uses more fuel than more gradual acceleration. If you’re a city driver and you have to start and stop frequently, try accelerating more slowly than you’re used to. You don’t want to hold up traffic of course, but you don’t need to jump like a stock car racer when the light turns green. For city drivers, this technique can increase your MPG by 10%

2) Keep your car tuned up. An engine in tune, with good spark plugs and plug wires, good ignition timing and a clean fuel filter, runs better. More of the chemical energy stored in the gasoline actually gets converted to motion and less gets wasted. Get your car tuned up annually. A car that is poorly tuned can get 25% LESS gas mileage than the same well tuned car. That kind of waste will easily pay for an annual tune up.

3) Make sure your tires are properly inflated. This is actually a very important tip. If tires are under inflated, the tires present a much larger surface area to the road. Larger surface area = more drag and resistance that the engine has to compensate for. Over inflated tires can actually increase mileage because they present the lowest rolling resistance, but can be dangerous and will wear poorly. So make sure your tires are inflated right to where they’re supposed to be inflated. Look an the sidewall for a PSI rating. You should check this monthly. Any full service gas station will do it for you as well.

4) Turn off the Air Conditioner and use your windows or vents if it’s cool enough. The AC is driven by an AC compressor which places a large drain on your engine when it is engaged. It can reduce milage by 4 or 5%. Some may argue that having your windows open to the cool the car is a bad idea, because it changes the aerodynamic shape of your car, and this is true at higher speeds. Below 40 MPH, open windows will have a negligible effect on your cars aerodynamics.

5) Slow down. As a car goes faster and faster, it takes more force from the engine to push the car through the air. At lower speeds, this extra force doesn’t really matter, but when you approach highway speeds, a 60 MPH cruise will be much more efficicent than a 70 MPH cruise. Now be careful when using this technique. You don’t want to block traffic, but you don’t want to be driving along in the left lane doing 85 MPH either. It’s a waste and it doesn’t really get you to your destination that much faster. Did you know it takes 30% more gas to drive 70 MPH then 50 MPH?

6) Consider a different vehicle. A HumVee gets 8 MPH, a Ford Aspire gets 47! (I had a Ford Aspire and loved it). If you’re a single driver going back and forth to work daily, consider a more practical vehicle. My ‘other’ car is a 500 cc Honda motorcycle which gets 55 MPG. I’m no SUV nazi, so if you need a big car, by all means have one. But if you don’t, then be a good steward of your money and consider something smaller.

7) Don’t use the expensive gas. Most people think that if high octane gas is more expensive, then it must be better. Right? No, that’s wrong. High Octane gas burns differently and can be used in cars that ‘knock’, but all modern cars are designed to use the lower octane fuels. Do yourself a favor and use the cheap stuff. If your car is knocking badly, then instead of using the expensive gas, get your car tuned up because knocking is an indication of a condition called, ‘detonation’ and this is related to an engines timing.

Plan your travel. Wow, this one is simple and can have a dramatic effect on savings. Try to get all your errands done in one trip. It can save a lot of time as well as gas and money.

9) When you see a red light ahead, don’t maintain your speed then brake quickly at the last minute. Instead, take your foot off the gas and allow your car to decelerate slowly. Your engine will be at idle during those extended decelerations and your brakes will thank you.

10) Use your cruise control when on the highway. The cruise control will assure that you use continuous gas pressures all the time and you’ll avoid the speed up / slow down / speed up / slow down patterns of drivers that don’t use cruise control. Avoid the accelerations is what saves you gas. Set it and forget it.

11) Visit www.gasbuddy.com, enter your zip code and find the gas stations in your area that are selling the cheapest fuel, then buy from them. This is a great service and can easily save you .10 or more on each gallon of gas.

Using these 11 tips, it’s reasonable to expect that you can save 10%, 20% or more on your gas expenses. Until the US starts drilling for oil here in the states, we’re all going to have to learn ways to save on gas.

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The hydrogen hybrid car is discussed including how they work, car models available, fuel cell technology, and performance.

Nowadays, people are aggressively searching for more ways on how they could save on gas . In effect, companies are being pressured to offer something new to consumers other than their conventional cars. This is evident with their notable development of new technologies that are obviously aimed for fuel economy; one of which would be the hydrogen hybrid car.

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Combining Two Innovative Technologies

Hydrogen technology and hybrid technology are two different innovations that are used to save gas, increase your vehicle’s power and most of all, make your car more environmental friendly in contrast to conventionally fueled vehicles. Considering each of them are already powerful solely by themselves, just imagine if these two technologies are combined!

Well, here’s the good news, manufacturers have been working on such kind of projects and they have finally come up with vehicles that support both of the said technologies! So, here are the essentials on what you should know about hydrogen powered hybrid cars .

How Does It Work?

This kind of car actually makes use of fuel cells . Major car makers, focus on fuel cells, since they say it’s more clean and efficient than mere hydrogen internal combustion engines alone. Rather than burning fuel inside the engine, fuel cells would act more like batteries, where they would use electrochemical reaction between oxygen and hydrogen to produce electricity.

One company that is known to develop fuel cells would be Anuvu, which is actually almost prepared to produce large cargo vans and Nissan Frontier pickups (see: Nissan hybrids ) that run on hydrogen and fuel cells.

A Deeper Look

What the company is selling are actually hybrid fuel cell vehicles . This kind of vehicle is the kind that utilizes a quite small fuel cell system in order to provide power to an electric motor, which supplies all the heavy work for the vehicle to move. The car is quite similar to gas-electric hybrids , which are currently on the market. However, this time, the vehicle makes use of fuel cells rather than internal combustion engines.

The stack of fuel cells has the ability to recharge the hybrid battery . Nevertheless, the latter could also be recharged simply by plugging it to a wall. Experts consider it to be an electric car that has all advantages that a car of its kind could have minus the disadvantages.

Trouble Shooting

You wouldn’t have to worry about hydrogen leaks either. If ever one occurs, the vehicle’s censors would shut down your fuel cell stack. Nevertheless, there’s no need to worry since you could still drive your vehicle for another 30 miles simply by using your vehicle’s hybrid battery.

Looking At Mazda

On the other hand, Mazda also has their mixed hybrid and hydrogen car to offer. This would be the Mazda 5, which is known as the Premacy Hydrogen Hybrid in Japan. Nevertheless, whatever name you want to call it, this car is actually a concept vehicle. It is a hydrogen minivan in style. They say that it was based on RX-8 Hydrogen RE car. Mazda 5 is a rotary mild-hybrid bi-fuel which is considered to be the first mass-marketed car of its kind.

The Specs

This car actually runs using both compressed hydrogen gas and gasoline. All you have to do is just press a button on its dashboard and you would transform this minivan to a green vehicle. Press again to change back again whenever you need more distance to be covered.

It introduces a gasoline / bi-fuel hydrogen internal combustion engine. This solves one of the major infrastructure issues circling around where users could buy hydrogen when fuel stations still dominate the main scene. By doing this, hydrogen manufacturers and distributors would be given the incentive and chance to take their distribution network to a massive scale.

This hydrogen hybrid car’s rotary engine and hybrid unit are transversely mounted in front of the car having a layout for a front-wheel drive. Additionally, it has a high-voltage battery underneath its 2nd row of seats. The gasoline tank is also near the high-voltage battery , while you can find the hydrogen tank next to the back seats. This kind of arrangement provides you a roomy and comfortable interior. It also gives you excellent driving performance along with environmental benefits.

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As reviewer says, "The Honda Civic Hybrid is great for those who want to help the environment, or cut their gas bill by a lot of money."

Everyone should want to cut their gas prices in this current market with everyone tight on cash, and every type of good. With up to 45 miles a gallon on the highway, it is hard not to want one of the most fuel efficient cars on the market.

Starting at around 23,000 the Honda Civic Hybrid makes it one of the more affordable hybrid cars out there. Plus it looks like the normal, stylish Honda Civic we all have learned to love. The style of the 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid is that classic Civic look, but with a fuel efficient inside that helps the earth.

I would buy this car because I love the environment and because I hate seeing paycheck after paycheck going to crazy gas prices, especially in this market. At least you know how much a car payment is going to be, while gas can jump to 2 dollars a gallon in a month without any notice at all.

I have heard other saying how great the miles per gallon really is on this car and really it just makes me want it more, more, and more. It is nice to hear that the Honda hybrid lives up the it’s name and gets the actually miles per gallon, unlike many other cars, hybrid or not, by other brands.

The worst thing is the hefty starting price for the Honda Civic’s Hybrids size, but that is well worth it because of all the money you can save on gas . The gas-electric hybrid is great for local driving. Another fantastic thing about this car, among the list of many is that it does not need to be plugged in ever! No matter what! Perhaps that makes the Honda Civic hybrid affordable to you? (Yes? No?)

The Honda Civic Hybrid drives much, much better then the Toyota Prius . I would rather pay the extra for this any day of the week. This car has won many awards, and rightfully so. Like Best Fuel Economy for 2003 and 2004. It also won best car in 2006. If this is not enough to convince you to buy the best hybrid on the market right now, I don’t know what will. This is really all my review needed to say: Buy It.

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