Independent research conducted in 2010 discovered that a standard in-car GPS device can actually help car drivers to reduce their carbon footprint and have a more positive effect on the environment when compared to drivers who don’t use them. This might sounds strange at first, but there are in fact some solid numbers to back this claim up.
The complete study was conducted in Germany over a period of a year with the main participants being drivers that use their cars on a daily basis with common and popular driving habits. This includes items like taking the kids to school each day, going to the shops twice a week, and driving to and from their work places – with a mix of both inner and outer city travel to get a fairer and more evenly balanced reflection.
The Research Results from 2010
The most interesting statistic taken after the year’s research and study showed that drivers who used the GPS and satellite navigation devices in their cars actually spent less time behind the wheel and tended to travel shorter routes and distances. As a result this meant that their CO2 emissions were reduced – as was the amount they spent on fuel and consumption levels.
The reasons are clear; when using a GPS it will route you the shortest or quickest way – plus with many modern units now coming with real-time traffic alerts it mean that they were avoiding fuel-hungry traffic jams where typically fuel consumption is always higher.
Facts and Figures in More Detail
Many of the drivers used Honda Accords in order to complete the study, which are known already for their fuel-efficiency. Each vehicle had the most up to date Honda Accord GPS DVD inside it to ensure that it had the latest directions to reflect any changes to the roads in Germany. When using a GPS in their car, the drivers surveyed managed to benefit from the following statistics.
- They spent less time in their car driving
- They also drove shorter and more efficient distances
- Their fuel efficiency was increased by 12 percent
- Their fuel consumption actually dropped from 8.5 to 7.5 liters every 100 kilometers
- Per driver they saw a 0.91 ton decrease in carbon dioxide over the year
- The C02 emissions translated to a 25 percent decrease versus those without GPS
- Their annual mileage numbers decreased by an average of 2,500 kilometers
Where Was the Study Conducted?
The 2012 research was conducted in the Dusseldorf and Munich cities of Germany – Germany was chosen because it has a complex road network with many variances and car drivers in the country are fast-adopters of GPS devices when compared to other populations globally. There were three different study groups of people:
- Drivers with a GPS that included real-time traffic alerts
- Drivers with a GPS without real-time traffic alerts
- Drivers without a GSP altogether
Every single car had a tracking device fitted to it which enabled the researchers to track and trace any drives that they did. The tracker was also synchronized to monitor driving speeds and styles. This amounted to over 2,000 car journeys in total covering over twenty thousand kilometers of travel distance.
GPS Sponsors of the Study
The Honda manufacturer is one car brand that actually includes GPS devices as part of the vehicle range as standard on the higher-end priced models. They have used a lot of research in order to encourage car drivers to update their GPS maps on their Honda cars – you can find out more by checking out this Honda enthusiast’s website that talks in more details about associated cost and environmental savings that can be made by using a map update. Go to: www.hondanavigationdvd.net.