Car Culture/Corbis
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by Holter Graham
Fuel prices go up every day, and buying a new, more efficient vehicle may eventually be the best answer, but that's a huge decision, costs a lot of money, and can't just be done overnight.
So, until you have the time and money to get a more efficient vehicle--I am holding onto a light truck I have had for more than 10 years while I wait for Ford to realize how many of us will buy a Flex-Fuel Hybrid Ranger the second it hits the showroom--there are some things you can do to save gas and the earth with your current truck.
Steal the wind. That's the secret.
Fuel efficiency is, more often than not, an issue of air. Air inside your truck and out. Here are three ways to green your machine.
- Ditch the parachute. As air passes over a truck, it dips back down towards the ground after it clears the roof. And then it slams into the tailgate, and all hell breaks loose. The tailgate on a pickup serves about the same purpose as a parachute on a dragster. It catches lost of wind and slows you down, so you need more gas to go the same speed.
There are two ways to stop this, and with one change increase your fuel mileage by 3 to 5%--as high as 7% on some vehicles. You can either buy and install a tonneau cover, or swap out your tailgate with a tail net.
The tonneau cover has the added bonus of protecting your cargo from the elements and hiding it from prying eyes. They costa bit more but ay for themselves in fuel savings and convenience.
A tail net not only allows for smoother air flow, but also removes the fuel-eating weight of a tailgate (have you ever tried to lift on of those things?) - Air filter. There's air inside your engine as well, and the smoother that air flows, the better your mileage can be.
If you do a lot of highway driving, getting a higher-flow, higher-performance air filter can really help your mileage by making sure that your vehicle has a nice full breath of clean air every time it breathes.
However, if you are one of those floor-it then jam-the-brakes-guys, this won't help much. Increased air flow only helps mileage when you cruise at highway speeds and/or drive in a pretty smooth manner. Think of it as nice steady breathing as opposed to hyperventilating. - Less drag. Finally, get out of the way of the air with thinner tires. When it comes time to get new tires, you may be surprised to learn that your rims most likely will accept a thinner tire than you currently run on your vehicle. There will be a nominal loss of traction, but it is negligible in most cases, and the loss of wind resistance from a wider tire, as well as the marked decrease in road-friction the thinner tires will bring, will definitely be reflected at the pump.
Want to know what you can do to reduce your carbon footprint? Find out on Planet Green TV's Wa$ted.
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