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Individual, car-based mobility contributes significantly to worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. Driving style accounts for up to 30% of fuel consumption and manufacturers have implemented technologies such as energy-efficient “eco” driving modes to reduce emissions. Here we report evidence from a field experiment with battery-electric vehicles. Two behavioral interventions, changing the mode's default to on and informing drivers about the frequency of other people's usage of the mode, i.e. providing a descriptive social norm, successfully increased eco mode usage. However, the cars' acceleration and energy consumption remained unaffected due to a behavioral rebound, and were instead predicted by a situational factor, trip distance. While behavioral interventions proved effective, the results suggest that technological interventions aiming to reduce the environmental impacts might focus more strongly on …