A motorist who can drive 100 miles on a single gallon of fuel has shared the simple tricks that save him £40 a month on his petrol bill.
As petrol prices rise to an all-time high, and look likely to get even worse in the winter, making your fuel go further is going to be even more vital.
Drivers are increasingly alarmed at the rising cost of filling up, as latest figures from the RAC put petrol at a record high of 142.94p a litre and diesel near-peak at 146.5p.
Thankfully Kevin Booker knows exactly how to deal with the high prices, as his featherlight touch on the accelerator has won him three world records for fuel-efficient driving, known as ‘hypermiling’.
Kevin calculated his techniques saved him £40 a month on his daily 70-mile round trip commute for work.
And now he’s shared his precision tips with Britain’s beleaguered motorists in the hope of easing some of their financial pain - and helping shrink their carbon footprint.
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“Half the time, motorists are just getting nowhere - fast,” says the 43-year-old from Swansea. “You see people speed past you, and a minute later you pull up behind them at a traffic light.
“But hypermiling isn’t about driving slowly - it’s about driving consistently. The reality is you’ll probably get there just as quickly - and you’ll save yourself a packet at the same time.”
Hypermiling gained a devoted following in the States two decades ago when drivers looked for ways to save fuel costs in the face of spiralling pump prices.
Kevin’s journey into the Guinness Book of Records started around the same time in his student days when he was driving his first car, a Renault 5.
With a sharp eye on his budget, he kept records of his spending on petrol and began comparing the cost with his mileage.
Later, making the same daily, 70-mile round trip commute to and from his job in Brecon he started tinkering with his driving techniques both for fun and to save fuel.
“I’ve always had an eye on my fuel economy driving to and from work,” says Kevin, who manages the electric vehicle fleet for a Welsh national park. Some people will argue it’s because I didn’t like spending money on fuel, but when you do the same trip all the time, you kind of gamify it.
“I just wanted to see how much fuel I could save, and how it would affect my journey time.”
The results were surprising.
By the time Kevin swapped his last petrol car for his current mode of transport - an electric vehicle - his hypermiling techniques were saving him as much as £40 a month.
“And it barely made a difference to journey time,” he says. “I was maybe a tiny bit slower at first, but once I really knew the road there was no difference at all.”
Kevin started competing in - and won - hypermiling marathon events organised by Fleet Magazine, sometimes driving as far as 100 miles on a single gallon of petrol.
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Competition rivals Paul Clifton - a BBC transport correspondent - and Fergal McGrath, both keen hypermilers, became Kevin’s team mates on their successful world record bid in July this year.
The trio set not one but three new records, taking turns to drive a battery-powered Ford Mustang Mach-E from John O’Groats to Land’s End.
They set records for efficiency, shortest charging time and and the least number of stops, parking up just once to recharge for 43 minutes and 13 seconds over 840 miles and 20 hours of driving.
Kevin explained how the team drove through the night to avoid traffic congestion, kept the car air-con off and didn’t even use the radio to preserve energy.
“It was dicey near the end,” he says. “For the last six miles, the dashboard read ‘battery depleted, stop now’.
“But the Mustang surprised us all. It was a far better car than we thought it would be.”
These days, Kevin owns an electric car and is untroubled by the latest figures from the RAC which put petrol prices at 142.94p a litre - their highest ever. Diesel costs 146.5p, just shy of the previous high of 147.93p.
However Kevin’s tried and tested hypermiling methods are still relevant for cars running on fossil fuels.
Keeping your car well-maintained with regular services is his first tip for maximising fuel efficiency.
Kevin also advises making sure the boot and back seats are free of unnecessary extra weight.
“There’s no point driving around with a set of golf clubs unless you’re actually playing golf,” he says.
He suggests getting rid of roof boxes and racks as they cause unnecessary drag, and says optimum tyre pressure is key for reducing rolling resistance.
“On the move, get into the habit of reading the road ahead and going with the flow of the traffic, rather than being one of these people who darts in and out of the fast lane,” he suggests.
“Judge your speed so you can flow into roundabout traffic or through traffic lights rather than stopping or braking harshly.
“Try to travel at non-peak times so you can avoid all the stop-start.
“And when you’re going downhill, leave the car in gear but take your foot off the accelerator - it won’t use any fuel at all.”
Kevin says a cruising speed of around 60mph is ideal on motorways. “It takes a lot more energy to push the engine those few extra miles per hour up to 70,” he cautions. “Use cruise control if your car has it - modern cars are much better than people at maximising fuel efficiency.”
But for such a car buff and keen driver, Kevin’s top tip for saving fuel is also the most surprising - and one we could all take note of.
“Ask yourself – do I really need to make this journey at all?” he says. “Do I really need to go to this place? And if so, is there another way I could get there?
“You can forget all about the prices at the pumps if you walk or go by bike - your journey won’t cost you a penny.”
The 100mpg was driving a Honda Jazz 1.2 litre in a historic fuel trial called the Layer Marney cup in 2019. It takes place over public roads and the finish line is at the Layer Marney tower in Essex.
He said: “I have had 100mpg out of a number of cars on public roads, first was 2016 Honda civic diesel, also in 2019 in Honda Jazz and 2020 in a Jazz hybrid.”
