Plan your eco route no more :)

Thanks to Ford, you do not need to plan your eco-route on your own anymore :) Ford’s new map-based navigation system has three options: the fastest route, the shortest route and also the “Eco-Route.”

Drivers using a version of the MyFord Touch dashboard interface system, with SD-card-based mapping, will get a choice of three color-coded routes (with the eco-choice, in green). This version makes its debut this summer in the 2011 Ford Edge. Cars equipped with the system can access real-time traffic information from Sirius and then plot the greenest route to your destination, avoiding gridlocked roads. If real-time traffic information isn’t available, it relies on historic traffic data. It also looks at speed limits, and chooses the routes that give you consistent speeds. Ford said in testing,the Eco-Route yielded up to 15% fuel-economy improvements.

However, if the Eco-Route directed drivers onto highways with higher posted speed limits, it could cause them to go faster and actually affect fuel economy negatively. But then again, we probably do not have a need for that. The island is so small and our routes so straight forward that i do not think it matters hehe plus it is better for us to take the public transport :)

Tips of the day: Drive at a constant speed of 90 km/h in order to cut on emissions and save about 10% of your fuel bill.