A highly efficient competition

All it takes is going online to guess how much it will cost the Supreme Winner of the AA ENERGYWISE Rally to complete this year’s 1,780km North Island route (including fuel and Road User Charges).

Running from 11-14 October the two-yearly event is organised by the AA, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA), and Gull Petroleum New Zealand.

“The AA ENERGYWISE Rally shows Kiwi motorists how they can slash their fuel bills by choosing a fuel-efficient car and driving it in a fuel efficient manner,” says EECA chief executive Mike Underhill.

“In this competition we’re inviting all motorists to really think about just how big that saving can be - and we’ll reward them for it.”

The $2750 driving package contains $1000 of Gull fuel vouchers, a Navman MY75T GPS unit, 2 AA Plus Memberships, 2 AA Driving Lessons, 2 AA Defensive Driving Course for Experienced Drivers and a set of four Bridgestone Ecopia tyres.

So far there have been more than 2100 entries with the winner being announced on 15 October once the Rally has been completed on 14 October.

Entrants can consider results from previous rallies to help them make a guess. The total fuel bill for the 2008 Supreme Winner, a Honda Civic Hybrid, was $112 for the 1641km, four-day rally, at a time when petrol cost around $1.45 a litre.

“Yet we know that the average car at that time would have used around $240 for driving the same course.”

Mike Underhill says most motorists can reduce the amount of fuel they use by up to 20% through more efficient techniques. But it is even possible to save twice that. In the 2008 Rally, the winners of the driver award beat the stated fuel use of their vehicle by nearly 40%, achieving 9.5 litres per 100km instead of the manufacturer-stated fuel use of 15.7 litres per 100km.

To enter the AA ENERGYWISE Rally competition or find out more about the rally, visit www.aaenergywiserally.co.nz

You can also follow us on twitter @energywiserally

For more information contact

Stella Stocks
General Manager Motoring Services
New Zealand Automobile Association
T. +64 9 966 8908
M. +64 21 772 242
E. sstocks@aa.co.nz

The New Zealand Automobile Association is an incorporated society with over one million members. It represents the interests of road users who collectively pay over $2 billion in taxes each year through fuels excise, road user charges and GST.

Vicki Connor|
Team Manager – Corporate Communications
EECA
T. +64 4 495 8269
M. +64 27 222 2943
E. vicki.connor@eeca.govt.nz

EECA is a government organisation helping all New Zealanders to integrate energy efficiency and renewable energy into their everyday activities – at work, at home and on the road. Find out more by visiting www.eeca.govt.nz

Dave Bodger
General Manager
Gull New Zealand Ltd
T. +64 9 489 1452
M. +64 21 278 7737
E. davidb@gull.biz

Gull Petroleum was founded in 1976 with a single service station in Western Australia. They have grown from a small business to a modern, dynamic organisation of significance in the Australian and New Zealand petroleum industries, with over 100 service stations across both countries.