Why It's Important for your Driving School to Teach Eco Driving to Learners

17/02/2023

Eco-driving is a modern driving technique to help reduce fuel consumption, but it has many other benefits. For learner drivers, in particular, it can also help them become safer drivers as a bonus.

In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about eco-driving and why all ADIs should teach it to their learners.

What Is Eco Driving and How Can It Help Learners?

Eco-driving is a style of driving that’s all about fuel efficiency. Drivers are taught to drive proactively and anticipate changes around them to reduce fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions and have obvious environmental benefits. Cars are responsible for around a fifth of global CO2 emissions. So reducing our fuel consumption by any margin is a step in the right direction.

As petrol and diesel prices vary, it’s also beneficial in a financial sense. Learners who might not have much spare cash can save considerable amounts through eco-driving.

As well as this, many eco-driving techniques involve acting pre-emptively. Overall, this can make for a safer driving style as learners can anticipate hazards.

Eco-driving is often confused with hypermiling. While it shares some similarities, hypermiling is a far more extreme version of eco-driving. Some techniques promoted for hypermiling are unsafe and shouldn’t be taught to learner drivers.

Teaching Eco-Driving Techniques

There are many eco-driving techniques you can teach your learners. Many are common sense, and you may already be teaching them without knowing!

Anticipate Traffic

One of the most significant factors in fuel consumption is stopping and starting. With how busy the roads can get around the UK during traffic, it can seem impossible to avoid.

However, giving yourself more time to anticipate what’s ahead can make a big difference. Drivers should try and read the traffic as far on as possible and react to that.

For example, let’s say you’re driving through a town centre. You can see the lights much further up the street are red. If you slow down now, you can use engine braking or regenerative braking and give them a chance to change to green instead of driving up to them and slamming the brakes on.

A good general rule of thumb for anticipating traffic is to give yourself three seconds between you and the car in front. This minimises the need to brake. It also gives you plenty of time to react if the vehicle ahead becomes a hazard.

Steady Speeds

Similar to the above, speeding up and slowing down consumes a lot of fuel, even if you don’t come to a complete stop.

Avoid rapid acceleration as it burns through fuel. Increase speed steadily and maintain the same speed as long as possible. If you have cruise control, it’s a great idea to use it wherever possible.

As part of this, you’ll want to keep a low RPM (revolutions per minute). You can keep your car in the highest possible gear while driving. For example, driving in fourth gear at 30 instead of third.

Change Gears Early

As part of the above, changing gears earlier than later is another great eco-driving technique, as you’ll accelerate at a lower rpm and burn through less fuel.

Tyre Pressure

Check tyre pressure regularly, as uneven tyre pressure is often dangerous at higher speeds. This is something learner drivers should be aware of, but it applies to eco-driving too.

Uneven tyre pressure affects fuel consumption. This is because low tyres bend and deform more, increasing rolling resistance. So your car engine has to work harder to move them. Reducing tyre pressure by only 1 bar causes around a 30% increase in rolling resistance. This has a significant impact on fuel consumption.

Lighten the Load

We can all be guilty of filling our car up with junk we don’t need in the boot and telling ourselves we’ll get it out another day. But it’s a bad habit to get into when driving. Lugging anything extra around in your car creates more weight to move around. Just like if you had a car full of people, you’d use more fuel; you’ll use more fuel when lugging around a boot full of junk.

Limit the Aircon

Many believe that driving with their windows down causes aerodynamic drag and opt for air con instead. Driving with the windows down indeed has this effect; however, compared to the fuel consumption caused by aircon, you’re better off opening the window.

Any electrical equipment in your car burns fuel, and the aircon is one of the worst culprits. Of course, this isn’t to say you should suffer on the rare sunny day we get, but if it’s a pleasant outdoor temperature, you’re better off leaving the aircon off.

Winter Warmer

Who doesn’t hate those cold dark mornings when you have to go into the office, and your car needs de-icing? Many of us have sat idling while the windscreen blowers do the work for us, but this is bad news for our fuel. Pop some gloves and go old school by scraping the ice off instead.

Plan Journeys in Advance

Sat navs are your friend when it comes to fuel consumption. Getting lost will cost you precious litres. For longer journeys, it’s always a great idea to check for congestion or accidents before you go so that you can pick an alternative route instead.

More ADI Advice and Equipment

Eco-driving is a great technique to teach learner drivers. It can help reduce their impact on the planet, save money, and even make them safer drivers. There are many eco-driving techniques to teach your learners.

We’ve got more helpful advice for ADIs on our blog and a vast range of products for your learner vehicle.