The automotive industry is now focusing on fuel efficient cars as the increasing fuel costs is resulting in demand of vehicles with better mileage. Measures adopted to achieve this include refining the power train, weight reduction and inclusion of new technologies such as the start stop system which not only helps in fuel efficiency but in reducing emissions.
Mileage indicates the distance that a vehicle can travel with a specific amount of fuel. With the latest innovations in automotive industry the vehicle owner may not need to spend much money on expensive petrol or diesel. The car or bike that can travel a good distance with just a small amount of fuel is stated as a vehicle with good mileage or high fuel efficiency.
These days we are witnessing tough competition among automobile manufacturers to launch eco friendly vehicles. Some very fuel efficient hatchback cars include- Alto k10, Chevrolet Spark, Hyundai i10, Ford fiesta, Honda City, Tata Nano, Honda civic Hybrid, Tata Indica Vista and many more.
Tips to measure the mileage of your car or bike
Odometer helps us to calculate the mileage of our car or bike has making it simple and easy to keep track of fuel consumed during the distance traveled.
Fill the fuel tank of your car or bike till the rim and reset your odometer to the zero point. Then go for a drive that represents your normal activity, while ensuring it’s significantly long enough. After, that fill your tank again till the brim, while noting the number of liters that you have tanked.
You can now calculate your car’s mileage (or fuel economy) by dividing the number of kilometers that you have driven by the number of liters of fuel that filled the second time. The result is the “kilometer per litre” or mileage of your car or bike.
How to determine the fuel efficiency of your vehicle
This is an important analysis of a vehicle’s mileage. This involves technical analysis to understand why some vehicles need more fuel to drive one kilometer of distance (the car or bike’s fuel efficiency).
Some reasons for low mileage is weight of the car, the maintenance of the vehicle, the fuel type and quality, the age of the car, the traffic conditions and the driving style. In general we can say that we can get better mileage with good care and maintenance of the vehicle.
Why we should care about mileage?
Good mileage is important because if your car or bike’s mileage is bad, it means you will be spending a lot on fuel. Moreover, it means that you will be causing more pollution and depleting the world’s fossil fuels.
Therefore, the government and consumer agencies are very keen to ensure that consumers understand the car’s or bike’s mileage, as manufacturers are always keen to overstate it.
So in current law, the ARAI of India will inform you what your car’s or bike’s mileage is from independent tests.
