Fiat have just released details of the first ever large scale real life study into eco;driving, gathered from their eco:drive system, and it makes for interesting reading. The stand out fact for me, beyond the impressive 6% average improvement in fuel efficiency, was that although journey distances remained the same, journey times actually decreased. Counterintuitively, eco-drivers turned out to be speedier drivers, getting to their destinations quicker, due to an average 13% decrease in stop time. So drivers are saving money, reducing emissions and getting there faster - where's the catch!The big difference between this and other studies is that this was not based on test conditions, but real life. Car companies have spent billions achieving a 20% improvement in average fuel efficiency over the last 15 years years. Here's a way of getting another 6% average improvement, in a matter of weeks that doesn't cost a thing. Car makers are waking up to this; as Andrew Humberstone, Fiat UK's MD said at the forum on Wednesday, even the most efficient cars can be driven poorly, so if the question is "how can we improve the vehicle's fuel efficiency then we can no longer avoid the fact that the answer must include driver behaviour."
For eco-driving to fulfil its potential though it needs to be publicised to a wider audience and to be factored into everything from driving tests to road planning, sat-nav systems to arcade games. Fiat made a commitment on Wednesday that the launch of the data would mark the start of a forum to try to bring these different ideas together and coordinate activity across different sectors. Sounds like it could be the start of an interesting dialogue.
More details about the report here.
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