Sit in on any meeting of a beverage company with a trucking operation and the reach of today’s fuel crisis becomes quite clear. And, with good reason—the price of diesel fuel reached US$4.19 a gallon in May, and continues to climb.

To cope with this skyrocketing cost, operators are bringing out the big guns, using all kinds of tactics to try to stay ahead of the problem. Attention is being paid to things like speed of vehicles, reducing vehicle weight, reducing idling, checking tire pressures and driving practices.

Here are some different measures to take to focus on different ways to save on fuel:

Reduce Vehicle Weight: When it comes to vehicle weight, the steps Cowan Systems (Baltimore, Md., USA) has been taking are worth noting. The company has 1,400 tractors and 2,600 trailers and provides truckload and dedicated services; Coca-Cola and Anheuser-Busch are among their clients.

Spec’ing lightweight vehicles allows each tractor-trailer to carry 10 percent more freight per load. To reduce the weight of a power unit, Cowan uses smaller, lighter engines and fuel tanks, removes “unnecessary” items such as side skirts and brings the weight down to 16,000 pounds for a day cab tractor.

For the trailers, it uses super-singles tires with aluminum rims, cutting the number of wheels from eight to four and eliminating the heavier dual wheel set up. The trailers also have a composite floor that replaces aluminum and wood floors. The weight of the combination is now down to roughly 30,000 pounds.

Reduce Speed: On the subject of speed, the American Trucking Association has asked a congressional panel to set a national speed limit of 65 mph, and to offer incentives to speed the use of auxiliary power units (APU).

Some help also is coming from some truck OEMs. For example, Navistar is offering truck buyers US$1,000 in free fuel if they don’t get at least 7 percent better fuel mileage after six months using one of the company’s midrange trucks and engines. The offer applies to new purchases of a DuraStar truck with a MaxxForce 7 or DT engine. For details, visit internationaltrucks.com/guarantee.

Volvo also recommends resetting the road speed limiter to a lower speed. The rule of thumb is you gain one-tenth of a mile per gallon for every one mile per hour reduction in speed.

Also, use the right gear. Don’t spend too much time in lower gears, such as cruising in 9th instead of 10th gear. This can be eliminated by enabling theVolvo Differential Road Speed Governor function. Set the maximum speed for one gear down to a speed that will encourage the use of top gear, thereby lowering engine rpm and saving fuel.

Use Synthetic Oils and Lubricants: Low viscosity synthetics can be used on front wheel bearings, transmissions and rear axles. Despite the high initial cost, synthetics can save US$500 a truck in fuel costs.

Use the Recommended Engine Oil Weight and Grade: Using a 10W-30 instead of a 5W-30 can decrease miles per gallon by 1 to 2 percent.
Maintain Tire Air Pressure: A 15 percent under-inflated tire results in 2 percent poorer fuel economy and being under-inflated by 30 percent can result in a 3 percent mpg loss.

Disable Engine Brake Setting: If the engine brake is set to engage with the cruise control, consider disabling this feature. This will allow the truck to roll out further after a downgrade, so the driver doesn’t have to go back on the accelerator as quickly. Another tip with the same effect for highway operations is to disable the fan-on setting with the engine brake.

Adjust Cruise Control Setting: The cruise control and road speed limiter (RSL) algorithims on today’s Volvo engines are the same, so there is no performance difference on hills if drivers use cruise control or keep the accelerator floored. Setting the Maximum Cruise Control’s set speed to 2 mph less than RSL can be an incentive for the driver to slow down an additional 2 mpg. Another cruise control tip is to set elastic cruise and RSL limits, so they allow speed to drop very slightly on upgrades and allow the truck to roll out a little faster on downgrades.

Perform Good Maintenance: A well-maintained truck runs more efficiently than a poorly maintained one. For instance, wheel alignment, as signaled by tire wear patterns, can affect fuel economy. And resetting the injectors and valves is a scheduled maintenance procedure that should not be deferred.

Also make sure tires have the correct air pressure since it can significantly affect fuel mileage.

From Beverage World June 15, 2008