FEBRUARY 6, 2019 Vol. 16 No. 3

Ten years really isn’t such a long time in the larger scheme of things, but think about what’s happened in trucking over the last decade. The list of seemingly wild innovations and exciting technologies and new practices is mind-boggling. Literally.

I’ve written more than once that keeping up with the pace of change is near impossible, even for a guy like me who spends most of every day reading and writing about it all. Pity the poor fleet manager, I often say to myself, trying to wade through it all in order to make smart decisions about how to equip and operate his trucks and trailers while making a buck in the process. It’s no wonder that lots of small fleets are begging to be bought by big guys.

Enter a savior of sorts, one of the best ideas to hit our industry since self-cancelling turn signals — NACFE, otherwise known as the North American Council for Freight Efficiency. It’s celebrating its 10th anniversary of providing unbiased information to help North America’s trucking fleets double their freight efficiency. That’s the goal anyway.

NACFE’s inaugural meeting was hosted by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) in Chicago on November 3, 2009. About 75 attendees representing a wide variety of industry, government, and non-governmental organizations determined that an unbiased, comprehensive council would help the trucking industry navigate the large number of energy-efficiency technologies and practices available in the market.

“Ten years ago, the people who saw the need for NACFE probably were not aware of the widespread impact the organization would have on the trucking industry. NACFE has brought awareness to the more than 85 technologies that help improve fuel efficiency and have allowed fleets to have confidence in the investments they make in these technologies,” said Rob Reich, senior vice president, Equipment, Maintenance & Driver Development at Schneider National and current NACFE Board Chair.

AND WHAT HAS NACFE achieved in the past 10 years? Lots.

It’s conducted seven Annual Fleet Fuel studies. These deep-dive investigations focus on the adoption of various products and practices for improving freight efficiency in 20 major North American fleets.

It created the Trucking Efficiency Program in partnership with the Carbon War Room, a non-profit founded by Sir Richard Branson and others that merged with and now operates as part of RMI.

NAFE has published 16 Confidence Reports on subjects ranging from trailer aerodynamics and 6×2 axles to electronically controlled transmissions and solar panels.

It’s issued two Guidance Reports on future technologies, with three more in the works, including some very useful examinations of the electric truck.