How do I make my car the most eco friendly.

F8L's advice is very sensible...

1) ScangaugeII => learn to hypermile, this can increase your overall fuel efficiency up to 10 mpg for most drivers and lower your carbon foot print all year round. cost $160.
2) LLR tires = adds 3 mpg to your drive. retail cost estimate $500

However, if you are willing to go further than that consider the following...



1) 12vdc tire air pump & high quality dial or digital tire pressure gauge -> raise your tire pressure to 40psi front, 38 psi rear. This can increase your overall fuel efficiency all year round. cost $50
2) 3" diameter foam pipe insulation=> create front air take insulators/grill blocking pipes for low speed driving when the temperature drops below 55 degrees Fahrenheit. This helps increase fuel efficiency during the winter. cost $3
3) Tint your windows or get PriusChat customized Heatshield Sunshield or a driver's cooling vest => to lessen any need to turn on the AC when you are driving in the summer heat. This can help increase fuel efficiency in the summer. cost is variable.
4) 400W Engine Block Heater (+ electric AC timer, AC extension cord) => can increase fuel efficiency during the winter time. Lifespan estimate 4 years. cost $60+installation cost + higher electric bill
5) Enginer Plug-in conversion. Lifespan estimate 6 years. cost over $8000+ higher electric bills
6) shark fin external antenna replacement => small FE ROI by lowering aerodynamic drag(*) at speeds >55mph. cost 78
7) Aluminum Alloy wheel rims => small weight saving EF ROI but looks cool. cost variable.

(*) All of the currently available 2010 Prius Aero(dynamic body modification) kits are tuned for performance/racing and not for fuel efficiency.

 

1) ScangaugeII => learn to hypermile, this can increase your overall fuel efficiency up to 10 mpg for most drivers and lower your carbon foot print all year round. cost $160.
This is to Optimize FE. You can just watch the screen and get similar result. Of cause, if you enjoying learning more about how your car works internally, it is a great toy.

2) LLR tires = adds 3 mpg to your drive. retail cost estimate $500
I guess the 3 mpg increase is compared to regularly inflated tires, not the 44 front, 42 rear. If your goal is to minimize cost, consider a slightly used regular tire at $25-35 each. Find them on Craigslist. Buy them in pairs though.


1) 12vdc tire air pump & high quality dial or digital tire pressure gauge -> raise your tire pressure to 40psi front, 38 psi rear. This can increase your overall fuel efficiency all year round. cost $50
Agree. Get a pump which is powered by car electrical outlet. It will be light weight (no battery inside) and you an store in trunk, always available.

2) 3" diameter foam pipe insulation=> create front air take insulators/grill blocking pipes for low speed driving when the temperature drops below 55 degrees Fahrenheit. This helps increase fuel efficiency during the winter. cost $3
Works great on mine.

3) Tint your windows or get PriusChat customized Heatshield Sunshield or a driver's cooling vest => to lessen any need to turn on the AC when you are driving in the summer heat. This can help increase fuel efficiency in the summer. cost is variable.
Agree, but be careful of local laws on tint.

4) 400W Engine Block Heater (+ electric AC timer, AC extension cord) => can increase fuel efficiency during the winter time. Lifespan estimate 4 years. cost $60+installation cost + higher electric bill
Too much hassle in my view.

5) Enginer Plug-in conversion. Lifespan estimate 6 years. cost over $8000+ higher electric bills
Completely not worth it financially. Run through the number, you will see. Plus, don't assume ideal situation. Extra battery will gone bad, or performance deteriorate. Plus added dead weight when you drive long distance.

6) shark fin external antenna replacement => small FE ROI by lowering aerodynamic drag(*) at speeds >55mph. cost 78
Not sure how much it can save, to be honest. The original antenna is pretty thin although long.

7) Aluminum Alloy wheel rims => small weight saving EF ROI but looks cool. cost variable.
This is... so extreem... Better clear the junk in your car, or even take out spare tire, jack when not on vacation, keep a Repair Flat Tire something...

(*) All of the currently available 2010 Prius Aero(dynamic body modification) kits are tuned for performance/racing and not for fuel efficiency. [/quote]

 

Same here in the DC area, unless you happen to be a lucky one to have a 9-5 job Love my regular visits to Chicago and SF, where I never need to rent a car. Transit service in those cities is frequent enough even in the late night hours. If job security was not as high as it is in the DC area, I would move to a city where I could give up my car and rely on a ZipCar for those times I really needed it, or plan on a weekend rental for really invovled r/t's....

 

Can someone recommend a good thread on engine block heaters please? Thanks!

 

I don't think Europeans put the mileage on like we do. Petrol is expensive and they have great train systems and city centers, bike, etc. Different lifestyle. Not certain how it impacts oil changes, except basic stop and go and wear and tear is different.

 

I hear ya Grumpy. I've been doing synthetic oil and long oil change intervals for 12 years, and LOVE that the Prius calls for both. Last weekend however we got a new van for my wife (Kia Sedona) and it calls for 7500 mile oil changes. Not too bad I suppose but still I'd rather go with synthetic and 10,000 miles, but can't risk invalidating the warranty.

 

lol I love the differences. The UK version of the Sedona only comes with a diesel engine, which normally require oil changes more frequently, and has a service interval of 10,000 miles. I wonder if the US oil change intervals is more to do with keeping dealers happy than for customer benefit?


Kia Sedona - Technical Specification | Kia Motors UK | Kia Motors UK


Oh and the UK warranty on Kia's is 7 years with unlimited mileage within the first 3 years.


Warranty Comparison Table | Kia Motors UK

 

Grumpy Cabbie I believe the oil change interval in the US on whatever make of vehicle is shorter for two reasons. One to keep revenue up for dealers. Two the resistance to change by the average US car driver that oils and cars engines have come a long way in the last 20 years.

I know I am going to get shot down now.

 

It's those GM clunkers with excessive blowby that need the old school 3k mile oil changes or they will suck the crankcase dry

Mike

 

Do only the recomended maint thats in your manual. Don't buy anything extra for your car. Thats the most "eco friendly" thing you can do. Everything you buy uses oil to make it, to ship it across the ocean, to ship it to the store, for you to drive to get it, ect ect.

 

Use Optimum No Rinse Wash & Shine (or a similar product) to wash your car. I use it along with 2 gallons of water - TOTAL - to wash and rinse my Prius and my wife's van. It's a great way to be environmentally friendly.

 

Keeping the engine stock (and well maintained) will insure the least pollutants of any car with an internal combustion engine.

 

Most of the low hanging enviro fruit of car use is realized by buying a Prius in the first place. Most of our remaining ability to lessen the enviro damage is by driving for good fuel economy and taking care of the car to avoid a premature trip to the landfill. The great thing about living this way is it saves money in your pocket as well.

Nowadays I spend my money, time and effort in making my home as low energy as I can (and my wife can tolerate.)
An average household in the US consumes about 950 kwh a month of electricity for example. That comes rather close to 2500 kwh a month of source fossil fuel for grids that mimic the national average of 20% renewables. In terms of petrol, that is about 75 gallons a MONTH -- just for electricity!

Most people can cut home energy consumption dramatically, and save money along the way. One example, my 2800 s.f home in New Mexico now consumes less than 250 kwh a month of electricity, and that will plummet as soon as I put my domestic hot water on natural gas.*
I suspect the lion's share of US households who have not yet given thought to gutting their electric bill can cut 220 kwh a month pretty easily. This is the same as taking a 12,000 mile/year Prius off the road.

*In case you are wondering why I would replace one fossil fuel for another, NG heaters are easily two times the efficiency of electric when I consider a powerplant-hot water analysis for my locale where electricity is made from coal. Other polllutant reduction in Sox and Nox is much more dramatic.

 

In line with the walk/ride a bike issue, what I find myself doing is on a Friday or Saturday night, I'll take a 1 hour drive to go shopping, play, eat, etc. My thought process is that I drive a Prius, so the cost is minimal, a little more than a gallon each way. But when I drove my Explorer, getting 15-16 MPH, my thought process was that it's just too expensive to make that 1 hour drive. So in one way, owning the Explorer was an energy saving deterent (but in totality, a guzzler). So, just owning a Prius doesn't necessarily do much if you drive it that much more than you would normally drive. I hope that made sense.

 

People often forget the part your home plays in fuel consumption. It is significantly more polluting than a car and yet even the simplest things can improve it. Don't just look at the costs of an item over a day or a week, but consider it over a year or even its lifespan. I don't know what your rules are for new appliances are, but here all white goods have an A to G efficiency rating (actually has a AAA, AA and A ratings now too) and this has caused manufacturers to introduce more efficient products. I know since I changed my washing machine to a AAA rated item that it now saves me loads on electricity and uses less water too.

The little things add up and if we all saved $10 a year, that's a significant reduction over an entire population.

 

This rating is now being extended to tyres within the EU as from December this year. That should prove interesting reading.

 

Yeah we just bought some new tyres for the gf's IQ. It's a good thing. I'm all for LLR tyres as they really do make an economy difference. On the Prius it was about 5 mpg with me behind the wheel, which over a taxi life of 20k on the front is a significant saving, esp as they only cost me about £10 per tyre more.

It's stuff like this where the EU is OK, though the rest of it is a load of crap.

 

I know exactly where your coming from.

 

The prius is about the greenest car out there. There is a growing number of owners on this forum who will try to sell you "cheap insurance" fluid swaps that are economically and environmentally wasteful. Also there is no economy in swapping tires to save MPG as $ saved don't offset the cost of the tires. Getting as much mileage out of your tires as is safe makes green sense. Drive the hell out of it, use it up and recycle it.
Home greening makes a bigger impact. we've gone solar, CFL's, we worm compost(which digests everything from paper to veg scraps) recycle, line dry clothes...subjects for another forum.

 

I certainly agree that throwing away current tyres with life in them in order to get a better LRR tyre today is a poor idea; but when it comes time to replace, buying one of the group of most efficient tyres is a good idea. The one caveat here is to avoid tyres with low treadwear ratings.