W hat would you do to cut your diesel bill by
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30%? Before you reply that you would happily sell your own grandmother, ponder the fact that most hauliers in the UK are wasting that much diesel every year. When the Freight Transport Association looked at this issue in 1996, it found that the difference in Fuel consumption between the average haulier and the most fuel efficient was up to 30%. And when a similar study was undertaken two years later, it turned out that 15% of operators didn't even know how much they were spending on fuel.
Over the past five years the study of how operators can get more out of a gallon of diesel has become an art form in itself. According to one of its leading practitioners, Michael Coyle of the University of Huddersfield's Transport and Logistics Research Unit, the starting point in reducing your fuel bill is obtaining detailed, accurate information on fuel consumption.
-It's important to produce weekly or monthly figures by dividing the total distance the vehicle covers over that period, by the total amount of fuel it uses," he says. "If you simply take an average of the daily averages, over a month the figure you come up with can be inaccurate by as much as 0.5mpg."
Coyle adds that it is important to remember that there's likely to be a seasonal pattern to your fuel consumption: bad weather in the winter will knock it back significantly, as will the adding of anti-waxing ingredients by the oil companies. He also suggests that if you find a large discrepancy in daily filet figures you shouldn't ignore it or average it out—investigate it and take measures to prevent it happening again. Bear in mind that even minor changes to equipment can affect your figures. Fitting new tyres can apparently affect mpg by as much as 2%, because part-worn tyres, with a slightly smaller rolling radius, can distort tacho mileages by as much as 3%. He advocates cross-checking the journey mileage from the odometer against a map or distance tables.
PlatiLlre
So once you're armed with an accurate picture of how much fuel your trucks are using, what can you do about reducing it? Coyle says driver training is vital. Most of the studies he has either read or undertaken show that the way the truck is being driven can affect consumption by up to 15%. "It doesn't matter if you have the most fuel-efficient truck in the world, if it's being driven poorly, you are throwing money away," he warns (see Driver Training Special, CM13-19 July).
Once drivers have been shown how to get the most out of the vehicle, he advises that transport managers should constantly update them on their progress by charting drivers' progress on the company notice board. "Unless drivers are told what's going on, old habits start to creep back and up goes the fuel consumption," says Coyle. "I am a great believer in fuel bonus schemes. You set a driver a target of, say, getting 7.mpg and pay him a weekly or monthly bonus. As he gets better you can change it to 7.6 and so on." Equally, if a driver is failing to respond, be prepared to offer refresher training.
Once you've got the drivers on board, the next place to look is the hardware.
When specifying vehicles and trailers, think aerodynamic. If you run an artic ensure that the tractor/trailer gap is minimised to reduce wind resistance (a sliding fifth wheel can help optimise the coupling gap). If you run a tipper always sheet the body, otherwise you'll have to overcome the drag of the tailboard. Tests carried out in 1998 show that an unsheeted bulk tipper trailer running at 56mph uses an average of 9% more fuel.
Deflector
Coyle points out that driver training must extend to things like air deflectors, and the drivers should be shown how to adjust the deflector to get the maximum advantage. Consider fitting side valances on trailers— they save fuel and keep the trailer cleaner. Buckles on a curtainsider can have a noticeable effect on air drag—in tests conducted by CM, a buckle-less curtainsider used up to 4.67% less fuel than a standard curtain-sided trailer (CM 18-24 February 1999).
Coyle says operators who run rigids should also think about fitting aerodynamic kits. In
tests of two 7.5-tonners, one fitted with a Idt the difference in fuel consumption was a: much as 11.5% at 70Mph.
However, Coyle warns operators tt remember that the pay-back period for aero dynamic equipment will be quickest whet the vehicle is engaged on long-distance, high speed work. "Don't waste money on a ful aero-kit on a vehicle that never travels on th. motorway," he says.
Conversion
One area you might think you can't change i the tractive unit itself, but if you run Volvo5. you can. Milton Keynes-based MKT can re rate a 12-litre Volvo engine from 34ohp t 38ohp, 42ohp or beyond, by reprogrammin the engine's electronic control unit (ECU: The conversion requires no mechanical mck ifications, takes around half an hour an costs about £750. It can be undertaken cat any electronically controlled t2-litre Volvo.
"We're not only finding that the trucks ar more powerful— they seem to be saving fue too" says MKT managing director Mar Allam. "We didn't set out to get improvemer in consumption but the savings have bee. phenomenal. Most of the companies repo] savings of between 1.2 and1.6inpg after th trucks have been re-chipped."
However, be warned: the manufacturer are dead against re-chipping and it will prot ably invalidate any warranties.
If you've done all this and your fuel figure are still not great, you might have to as some awkward questions of your driver Such is the price of diesel now that a blac market has sprung up which involves dr vers selling fuel straight out of the tank t one of the many pallet yards across the U I
When CM uncovered one such scam i East Anglia earlier this year, we contacte the company we suspected was bein ripped off by its drivers and the transpo manager had no idea it was going on. ' thought the trucks had become rathu juicy," he told us, "but it had never occurre to me that it was being sold on."