I was thinking about fuel lately, more specifically about something that Henry Albert, who is the owner of Albert Transport and one of the participants in Run on Less 2017, said in the finale video for the event. If you recall, the seven trucks in the Run averaged 10.1 mpg during the three weeks they were on the road. Here’s what Henry said: “At the end of the day, if we burn less fuel, that is a good thing.”
And Henry is right, burning less fuel is a good thing for several reasons. In addition to saving fleets money, burning less fuel is good for the environment. Burning less fuel is, in fact, decarbonizing trucking. And we need to continue to make strides in that direction.
Thinking about fuel savings also got me to pondering our most recent Annual Fleet Fuel Study (AFFS). One of the things we found in doing our research for the study was that there was a jump in the national average mpg figure for all heavy-duty combination tractors from the 2019 study to our most recent study published in 2022.The 2019 study data showed 5.98 mpg as the average for all fleets, while in 2022 that number was 6.24 mpg.
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What we are seeing is all fleets are becoming more fuel efficient. And to quote Henry, “That is a good thing.”
I think this is happening for a number of reasons. The first is that base model trucks coming off the production line are more aerodynamic than ever. You don't see too many “long and tall” sleeper tractors on the road these days. Truck makers understand that fleets need to be profitable and so are doing their part to make their trucks as efficient as possible—perhaps pushed somewhat by regulatory constraints.
On top of that, fleet managers are making investments in products that improve fuel efficiency as well as tweaking electronic engine parameters so that they are optimized for fuel economy. Some of this is driven by increased fuel costs. Back in the day when fuel was $1 a gallon, the savings between a long and tall tractor and a “regular” truck was not a lot of money. But today, according to data from the AFFS, that difference is significant.
And let’s not leave out the driver’s role in fuel economy. There are drivers out there who are pushing the mpg envelope and regularly seeing mpg above the 10.1 achieved by the Run on Less fleets. The really good news is that many of these drivers are sharing their best practices and trying to help other drivers become fuel economy evangelists.
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So, what does improving mpg look like in dollars and cents? Consider this: the fleets that participated in the AFFS are saving $7,207 over the fleets running at the national average of 6.24 mpg. The 15 fleets operating 75,000 trucks saved over $540,000 in 2021 compared to the average trucks on the road.
Fleets who want to remain competitive are working hard to close that gap, and we are seeing them make the investments in technologies and practices that will get them closer to the 7.23 mpg achieved by the fleets in the study.
Every tenth of a mile more a fleet gets from a gallon of fuel is less fuel burned, and we know burning less fuel is a good thing.
Michael Roeth has worked in the commercial vehicle industry for nearly 30 years, most recently as executive director of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE). He serves on the second National Academy of Sciences Committee on Technologies and Approaches for Reducing the Fuel Consumption of Medium and Heavy-Duty Vehicles and has held various positions in engineering, quality, sales, and plant management with Navistar and Behr/Cummins.
