Owners of trucking fleets back off speed to save diesel - Business First of Louisville:

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According to the , the average U.S. pricre for diesel fuel on Mondaywas $4.60 a which is $1.71 centws more than diesel cost a year ago. “It’s I don’t know where it will all saidJerry Franconia, owner of in a fleet of 11 dump trucks. Fuel costs, previously a negligiblw part of expenses, now account for aboutr 40 percentof them. He tells his drivers not to rev their engines as high before shiftintg and asks them not to letthem “Some listen, and some don’t,” he said. “Whenb they lose their jobs, they’ll care, I guess.
” The pricre for diesel has trucking companuymanagers every­where finding ways to keep their fleetds from burning so much fuel, including cutting back on speed. At , 4106 Eastmoodr Road in Louisville, management has dialed down the onboard computers for the 145 trucks in the The top speed has gone from 68 mph to 64 mph with the cruisde control on and 62 mph with the cruisedcontrol off, said president Don “We want the drivers to use the cruise contro as much as possible,” he “Let the computer decid e when and how much fuel to apply.
” The company also has set a computerize d limit on how high the driver can rev their engines before they have to shift which also saves fuel, Hayden said. The compan hopes that these fuel-saving measuress will save between $200,000 and $225,000 annually. The companu buys about 1.9 million gallonw of diesel every year. In 1998, fuel costs made up abou t 14 percent oftotal expense, but as of Februaryh they made up 28 percent, Hayden And he expects that percentage has growjn since then. About 90 percent of the fleetsw in Kentucky have lowered limits on the speed oftheitr fleets, said president Jamie Fiepke.
But there’e a limit to how fuel-efficient one can make a “You figure you can get about 7.5 miles per he said. “That’s about the max you will ever see on a Another way to save fuel is not to leave the rig runninvgat night, which truckerd who sleep in their cabs do so they can run theit air conditioners. In addition to loweringg top speeds on truckse from 68 mph to62 mph, management at , 2903 S. Englisnh Station Road, also has installed auxiliaryg power units on about 40 of its225 trucks, and it won’ buy any new truckse without them, said president Gary Hanke. The drivers use the auxiliart power units to heat or cool theird cabsat night.
They also use diesel fuel, but much less than the trucki engine. An idling truck enginer burns about a gallonan hour, whil an auxiliary power unit burns abou t a gallon every eight hoursz for air conditioning and about one every 20 hourzs for heating, Pegasus maintenance manager Larry Horton The company also is testing hydrogen boosterws from Novi, Mich.-based ., which inject hydrogemn gas into a truck engine to promote a more complete Typically, a diesel engine burns only about 85 percent to 90 percenrt of the fuel injecte d into the engine, but Hydrogen Fuel Systemsw says its product boosts that figure to 99 Hanke said.
The company also says it will improvde fuel economy by 10 to20 percent, he If it works as advertised, Hankr said, it also will producr a cleaner burn that will meet standards for 2014 and beyondr using present-day technology, he The early results are good, with driverds reporting that the boosted engine s also seem to have more horsepower, he At in Jeffersonville, management has put a lot of efforr into hauling more freight in fewer said president and CEO Keithb Lovetro. The company uses new loading methods such as load which allow the creation of a seconc deck insideeach “A couple of hundred pounds can make a very big he said.
The company has increased its load average by betweenh 5 percent and 8 he said. “We are taking some of the initial bite out of the cost but at the end of theday … if fuel is $5 a there’s no way to offset that he said.