Help the Environment By Calculating Your Gas Mileage

When you first purchased your vehicle, one of the biggest deciding factors was likely the gas mileage. After all, gasoline can become very expensive over time (and likely will remain this way for a long time), so purchasing a vehicle with high gas mileage is imperative to keeping your finances down to a minimum. It goes without saying that a vehicle with great gas mileage could make the difference in having a padded checking account, and one that is relatively low at all times.

But what is your vehicle’s MPG (miles per gallon) currently? Chances are, it isn’t what you think it is, which is why you need to make it a habit to consistently identify what your vehicles’ real-world gas mileage actually is.

How do you do this? It’s actually very simple. To begin, you need to fill up your vehicle’s gas tank. Keep in mind however that you do not want to “top off” your gas tank after the pump nozzle shuts off. Not only is this bad for the environment, but it can also waste your money in the process.  In addition, “topping off” can also lead to gas spills, and can even damage your vehicle’s vapor collection system (a system that captures harmful, polluting vapors before they go into the atmosphere), so in short: don’t top off your gas tank!

Once you have filled up your gas tank, reset your vehicle’s trip meter to zero and keep a close eye on it. Once you have burnt at least half of your vehicle’s gas tank, refill the tank until it is all the way full.

Then look at the gas pump’s display: how many gallons did it take to fill up your tank? Write the number down on a piece of scratch paper.

Open your vehicle’s door and sit inside, and take a look at the number of miles that is on your trip’s meter. What number is it showing? Write it down on the same piece of scratch paper, and then divide the trip meter by the gallons of gas.

And guess what? You now know what your vehicle’s real-world gas mileage actually is! It’s simple as that!

So what does this tell you? Of course, it will tell you as to whether or not your gas mileage is the same as it was when you first purchased it, but it will also act as a reminder totry and improve your gas mileage if it is worse than when you first purchased your vehicle. If it is, then you need to do your part to improve your vehicle’s gas mileage, not only so you can save money at the gas pump from now on, but so you can also improve the environment and decrease your carbon footprint.

So how can do you do this? Check out our next blog post, when we provide you with simple tips you can use to increase your gas mileage on your vehicle (and decrease the amount you spend at the gas pump and your carbon footprint in the process)!