At the Mid-America Trucking Show, three highly efficient drivers shared their secrets for conserving fuel with an audience of truckers and industry stakeholders. These experts achieved more than 10 miles to the gallon during NACFE’s Run on Less event—and they had plenty of tips to help other drivers follow in their footsteps.
Henry Albert of owner-operator firm Albert Transport addressed the audience at Mid America Trucking Show to propose a simple question, “With all the battles we have to fight in this industry, why pick a fight with the air?” he asked. According to Albert, by optimizing aerodynamics, he’s seen a fuel savings of up to 15%. During his panel, he extolled the advantages of this energy saving solution.
Albert’s first tip for drivers and fleets? Look at the dirty spots in their trucks. Those dirty spots—”anything that kills bugs,” he said, indicate where there is a high vacuum.
Albert went on to talk about how he optimized his trailer gap, keeping it only about 18 inches from the end of the cab extender to the trailer. Without expecting much, he also installed a nose cone on his trailer, but the result was the back of his cab was no longer getting dirty – meaning the vacuum had been sealed.
Albert is a firm believer in trailer skirts. He feels that installing these simple additions should be a no-brainer for commercial fleets due to their aerodynamic properties. Walmart and Schneider have already made this decision and are reaping the benefits of increased fuel conservation in their transport operations.
On his quest for efficiency, Albert also discovered a less obvious technology that offered him unexpected efficiency gains.
“The one that probably surprised me the most—and that I wanted the least—was a trailer tail,” he said.
Albert was skeptical about the advertised 5 – 7% fuel efficiency increase promised by a new trailer tail provider, especially after he had already improved his own savings by 9.5%. He was pleasantly surprised, however, to discover that this addition further boosted his fuel economy an impressive 6.8%.
“How you close the air is just as important as how you open it up at the front,” he said.
Albert advised that even seemingly small things like where the trailer license plate is mounted can result in hundreds of dollars in fuel savings. Having the license plate mounted below the taillights cost an additional $400-$700 per year (assuming a fuel cost of $3). According to Albert, most manufacturers now offer the option to mount the license plate on the rear buckplate.
Clark Reed, a driver with Nussbaum Transportation has expressed his dismay at seeing fellow drivers wasting fuel by needlessly leaving their engines on while taking short breaks.
After a lifetime of semi-trucking, Reed has optimized his downtime to the point where he only spends less than 1% idle: A feat made possible with Freightliners ParkSmart HVAC system and auxiliary power units. Now on top of this impressive setup, solar panels provide an extra boost charging both APUs and truck batteries for extended battery life.
For drivers who don’t have an APU, Reed recommends an electric mattress heater and fans that plug into power outlets to stay comfortable at night.
According to Reed, Nussbaum used to only incentivize MPG, but now awards habits instead.
“The problem with that is, if you have a couple bad days because the wind is fighting you, because you’ve got heavy loads, all the driver sees is that MPG number and feels they are losing money.”
The company now monitors habits such as following distance and speed, allowing them to maintain fuel savings without having to account for variables such as wind speed and terrain. Reed adds that this practice also helps increase safety.
Joel Morrow, CEO of Alpha Drivers Testing & Consulting, recently spoke out in support of downsped powertrains. According to Morrow, the technology brings benefits such as improved fuel economy and better operational efficiency for fleet owners and owner-operators.
“Just like we have exponential increases in fuel usage when we don’t have aerodynamics, the same thing happens with mechanical drag in the engine. We refer to this as piston speed; we want to slow the piston speed down.”
Drivers of downsped trucks can take advantage of increased fuel efficiency and fewer maintenance issues, according to Morrow – all while helping reduce emissions. Lower piston speed helps by keeping heat contained in the combustion process, creating less stress on emission systems.
“It’s almost outweighed the actual fuel efficiency benefit of it. Fuel efficiency’s pretty stellar, but the reduction in maintenance costs to go along with it really makes the new downsped powertrains kind of a no-brainer.”
Source: FleetOwner
