The Alliance to Save Energy, the Wal-Mart Foundation, and 16 additional diverse public- and private-sector partners are launching the Drive $marter Challenge, a fuel-efficiency campaign to help U.S. consumers lower their gasoline costs by using less. The campaign offers effective money- and gas-saving tips in English and Spanish and extensive additional resources – all aimed at keeping more money in drivers’ pockets and reducing the number of costly trips to the pump.

“The unique Drive $marter Challenge campaign features many creative elements, including an interactive website, English and Spanish tip cards, humorous English and Spanish radio public service ads, a Spanish “Driving and Saving” jingle, and mobile marketing,” said Alliance President Kateri Callahan.

“In addition, our campaign partners and other supporters will be broadly disseminating campaign tips and resources. All this information can reduce consumers’ gas costs by hundreds of dollars yearly from the whopping $3,400 that the average U.S. household is projected to spend this year to fuel its vehicles. With the summer driving season about to begin, our campaign could not be more timely in helping consumers, who are seeing their family budgets eroded by high gas prices.”

The campaign has the only interactive website (www.drivesmarterchallenge.org) with a calculator allowing drivers to enter specific data on their vehicle (make, model, year, cylinders) and find out exactly how much money they can save with up to six easy vehicle maintenance and sensible driving steps.

To highlight the campaign’s social aspect, the calculator also displays a running tally of the cumulative money, gallons, and CO2 emission savings of everyone who has “taken the Challenge” by pledging to follow through on any or all of those fuel-saving steps. The calculator thus demonstrates that even small fuel-efficiency steps by large numbers of people add up to measurable benefits.

As a reward, each visitor committing to the Challenge can download one or more money-saving coupons for vehicle maintenance products – including oxygen sensors, air filters, and spark plugs – redeemable at AutoZone, a campaign partner.

The campaign website also features links to extensive resources ranging from where to find the cheapest local gas to information on public transportation, biking, car sharing, and carpooling.

 “Tuning our cars, inflating our tires, and taking public transportation when possible are simple things people can do to save money and cut pollution,” said Deron Lovaas, vehicles campaign director, Natural Resources Defense Council. “While we need more efficient vehicle choices, maximizing fuel savings from the cars we have is a bargain for consumers and our environment.”

The Drive $marter Challenge campaign partners are the Alliance to Save Energy, Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, American Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association, American Petroleum Institute, AutoZone, Inc., Car Care Council, ExxonMobil, League of American Bicyclists, National Association of Counties, National Association of State Energy Officials, National Independent Auto Dealers Association, National Low Income Energy Consortium, Natural Resources Defense Council, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Safety-Kleen, U.S. EPA’s SmartWay®, and The Wal-Mart Foundation.