Karachi: A new research study uncovers the extraordinary lengths Pakistanis are willing to go to in order to save fuel and cut their driving costs. The Shell Super Fact or Fiction Report, which analyses the behaviour of 1,000 Pakistani drivers aged 18 to 40, reveals that while 71%1 think being fuel efficient as important, 53% admit they don’t know how.
What’s more, almost half of those who don’t know how to be fuel efficient (52%) said that they feel anxious trying to decide how best to save fuel, leading many to practise various fuel saving ‘myths’, or practises which do not actually help achieve fuel efficiency. The research shows 77% of drivers believe that warming up the engine before they drive makes them more fuel efficient, while 76% think driving slowly all the time does the same trick. Shockingly, 68% even believe ‘never using the heating, radio or interior lights’ will help them save fuel.
Commenting on the findings, Mazhar-ud-Deen, GM Retail of Shell Pakistan said: The Shell Super ‘Fact or Fiction’ Report shows just how important saving fuel has become to motorists; along with the fact and fictional ways they try to be more fuel efficient. Some of the practises motorists use actually waste fuel rather than help conserve it.” To help sort fact from fiction, Shell will be working on a number of campaigns to turn the nation’s myth-followers into fuel efficiency pros by demonstrating more effective ways to drive efficiently.
According to the survey, drivers in Pakistan are looking to engineers and scientists to help them save fuel and energy in the future, and Shell is calling on the next generation of Pakistan’s science and engineering talent to lead the way. Students from schools and universities across Karachi will be attending Shell’s Energy Lab on March 25, 2015 at the Institute of Business Management where they will participate in a number of games and activities to better understand energy and how it is used every day, and inspire them to think creatively about what our shared future of energy will look like.
At the Energy Lab, Shell will be launching the full Shell Super Fact or Fiction Report and celebrating another fuel efficiency milestone by a student team from Pakistan Institute of Engineering & Applied Sciences (PIEAS) who for the first time achieved 3rd position in the Urban Concept Gasoline category at the Shell Eco-marathon in Manila over 42 other competing teams in the same category.
