Motorists could save thousands of pounds by pressing one crucial button located on their dashboard, according to leading experts. Specialists at Radius, the UK’s leading fuel card provider, emphasised that the cruise control switch is vital for reducing fuel consumption in petrol and diesel vehicles.
Motorists tend to burn the most amount of fuel while accelerating and decelerating, meaning that keeping a steady pace is likely to pay off. The experts warned that despite its likely huge benefits, cruise control is still one of the most underused fuel-saving features in cars. They warn that many drivers are still simply unsure of how to properly use the tool, despite being fitted into almost all modern vehicles.
Kerry Fawcett, expert at Radius, said: “Cruise control is designed to keep your car moving at a steady speed without you having to keep your foot on the accelerator. Once you reach your desired speed on a flat stretch of road, you simply press the cruise control button to ‘set’ it, the system then maintains that speed automatically. You can easily override it at any time by pressing the brake or accelerator.
“On flat, steady motorway journeys, using cruise control can improve fuel efficiency by around 14%, saving drivers around £1.35 to £1.65 in fuel for every hour of driving.
"With over 200,000 vehicles using the UK’s busiest motorways each day, that adds up to a potential £270,000 to £330,000 saved daily, or as much as £120 million in fuel savings every year if all motorists used cruise control effectively.”
According to Radius, fuel savings were estimated using the average UK motorway driving conditions of 70 mph. Typical vehicle fuel economy was assumed to be 40 mpg for petrol cars and 50 mpg for diesel cars.
If this speed were maintained, experts estimate that vehicles would consume around 7.96 litres of petrol and 6.36 litres of diesel every hour.
The specialists added that based on steady-speed driving data, cruise control tends to improve fuel efficiency by around 14%. This tends to work out to savings of around 1.11 litres of petrol and 0.89 litres of diesel every hour on the roads.
