As a truck driver you’ll notch up thousands of miles a year and can often find yourself driving distances that feel like you’re travelling from one end of the country to the other.
Fuel is an ever burdening cost and the more you travel it can sometimes feel like the pumps are your home from home. We are all feeling the pinch from high fuel prices so it makes sense to start thinking about how we can make our trucks more fuel efficient. After all, a few less trips to the pumps each year can only be a good thing for our wallets!
Complete regular maintenance tasks
You’ll use less fuel if you keep your truck running like it should. Little things like excessively worn tires and brake pads can cause you to consume more fuel.
Make sure that you regularly service your vehicle and don’t put off any maintenance tasks until next month because you’ll only end up spending more time and money at the pumps.
Adjust your load appropriately
As an experienced trucker you’ll probably already be familiar with the importance of your vehicle’s aerodynamics. However what you may not already know is that the position of your load can also affect fuel efficiency – try to position everything as close to the cab as possible. For a visual illustration, take a look at this useful truck fuel efficiency guide from Truck Locator.
Change your driving style
Your driving style can dramatically effect your fuel consumption. Are you hard on the accelerator and tend to change gears unnecessarily? Well these can all contribute to excessive and avoidable fuel consumption.
A few changes that you can make to your driving style include:
· Avoid excessive braking
· Reduce gear changes
· Accelerate smoothly
Only use the air con when necessary
One of the quickest ways to get that fuel dial to hit empty is to leave your air conditioning on constantly – it literally drinks your fuel. Next time you are on the road think twice before turning the air conditioning on, just by having a few hours with the windows down instead you’ll see a noticeable difference in your fuel consumption.
Get rid of any unnecessary items
If your truck is carrying a heavy load it will require more power in order to get up to the necessary speeds and you’ll use a lot more fuel as a result.
Before you set off on your next journey, have a good look at your truck and see if you are carrying anything that you don’t need – its only going to weigh you down and send you back to the pumps quicker.
Turn your engine off when you are idle
Traffic! Its part and parcel of every trucker’s life and you’ll probably spend more time in traffic than you care to think.
The average truck can use 2 litres of fuel when sitting idle in a traffic jam. Of course traffic is beyond your control but what you can do is switch your engine off. By getting into the habit of switching the engine off when you think you will be stationary for more than a few moments you’ll probably save a tank or two over the year.
If you still aren’t convinced that the above changes can have a positive effect on your fuel consumption, we have a parting anecdote to share with you. A study in the US has proved that truck fleets adopting fuel efficiency products and practices were able to save an average of $4,400 per truck over a year. There is definitely a better use for that money, so don’t waste it at the pumps if you don’t need to.
This information was source by Truck Locator.
