How Speed and Fuel Consumption Relate
Launch library · evergreen read
Fuel consumption generally follows a curve rather than a straight line as speed increases, with efficiency typically improving up to a certain moderate speed before aerodynamic drag, which grows sharply at higher speeds, starts to outweigh the benefits of travelling faster and pushes fuel consumption back upward again.
This is why steady, moderate speed driving on a highway is often more fuel efficient than either very slow, stop start driving through heavy traffic or sustained high speed driving well above the vehicle's most efficient range, both of which push consumption higher than a smoother, more moderate pace would.
Aggressive acceleration and heavy braking add a further penalty on top of this, since rapid speed changes waste energy that could otherwise carry a vehicle forward, which is part of why smooth, anticipatory driving is consistently linked to meaningfully lower fuel consumption across a typical, everyday journey of any real length or distance.