Have you ever wondered how efficiently you drive your car or even how that varies on a day-to-day basis?
The recently developed goDriveGreen application for iPhones has found a way for the average person to track and record different sets of data about their daily or weekly commute.
After downloading the goDriveGreen for free from the iPhone apps store, you are ready to begin. In the settings section of the program you enter the vehicle information (year, make, model); the app automatically adds your highway and city MPG. As a baseline for fuel cost you can insert the price paid for the current tank of gas for specified results of fuel consumption. Through use of the iPhone’s internal GPS system the program can follow the car en route and you can even enter different trips into the database for historical comparisons. With this app you can contrast the results of different trips from alternate times of day, varied weather patterns and driving styles to find out the most economical route. The program also gives tips on how to reduce brake use, ease up on the gas and take advantage of coasting to save money on gas.
This is cool – you can enter more than one car into the settings – goDriveGreen calculates which of your vehicles gets you from point A to point B more efficiently.
Just place the iPhone on the dashboard and activate goDriveGreen when you start the car and turn off goDriveGreen when you arrive at the destination. During the trip the app records the distance, the average speed, the average MPG, the duration, and the total cost of fuel. At the end goDriveGreen uses your vehicle setting to calculate the recorded data to grade your fuel economy, use of the brake, and functionality of the tires (level of inflation and effectiveness) out of 100 points each before averaging an overall grade out of 100 as well. At the end the goDriveGreen will even let you know how much CO2 your trip emitted into the atmosphere.
There’s much talk these days for the need to legislate the car manufacturers into increasing fuel economy or wait for a more efficient car in the future that can be used to reduce emissions. As a realistic approach to this problem, goDriveGreen uses currently available technology today to analyze and teach drivers on how factors other than the car itself can influence fuel economy and impact on the environment.
Earthgarage – Greener Car. Fatter Wallet.