|
Home |
Snake Oil. Ah the nonsense talked by a lot of individuals and companies out there (a lot proliferating in the USA) about their potions, lubricant enhancers, oil additives, fuel pills or bolt on ionising or magnetising gadgets that will save you 5, 10, 15 even 30% on your fuel bills. Its
mostly utter rubbish, or just more 'snake oil' as we say. We have looked at a whole load
of these things, even tested a few, as have numerous others and the results are in. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY. The easiest way to save money on your fuel bills is to keep your car
regularly serviced with clean oil and a clean air filter, keep your tyres at the right pressures and in good condition, and drive more slowly. Simple as that really. Won't cost you any more, and will even save you up to £400 a year.
Most of these so-called wonder products do little or nothing except cost you money. Then you have to back them up to avoid looking stupid. Few if any have had any independent testing done, and
none that we are aware of can actually provide any sound un-biased supporting evidence to back up their sometimes wild claims. Most of these devices or additives claim up to X% more fuel
efficiency and X% amount of more power. But by stating “up to”, even if you’re netting 0% gains, the device manufacturers are not lying, as they would claim that there are many variables in play. The fact is, it is true, there are many variables affecting
fuel efficiency of an engine, factors such as driving style, air temperature, traffic conditions, general condition of the vehicle, other power usage in the car such as air conditioning and etc.
Instead of believing the hype, we should stop for a moment and ask ourselves, "If any of these fuel saving devices worked, wouldn’t automotive manufacturers buy the technology
or the company behind the fuel saving device over?" The automotive industry is very competitive, and they are constantly carrying out research and development to design fuel efficient cars with lower emissions. If these devices really worked, and an automotive
manufacturer was to buy it over, wouldn’t that give them an advantage over all the other manufacturers? But that is not the case.
There is a very clear message, which is if the automakers do not think it works, then it’s generally not worthwhile pursuing.
Obviously if you know otherwise, or have independently verified written proof that one of the gimmicks actually works, then we'll be glad to share it with our users. |
|
