NEW YORK, N.Y. – The rate of adoption for fuel-saving technologies is up according to the North American Council for Freight Efficiency’s (NACFE) 2018 Annual Fuel Fleet Study.

As detailed in the full report, the 20 fleets that participated in the study, which operate more than 71,000  tractors and upwards of 236,000 trailers, adoption of 85 fuel-savings technologies on both tractors and trailers has increased from 17% in 2003 to 44% in 2017. The report goes on to say that these actions are improving overall efficiency.

In total, the 20 fleets saved more than $600 million in 2017 compared to the average trucks in North America. They reached an average fuel economy of 7.28 mpg, compared to the average 5.91 mpg, representing a 2% increase over 2016 numbers.

According to Mike Roeth, executive director for NACFE, this was the first year the fleets in the study operated 2017-compliant Greenhouse gas Phase 1 engines and tractors.

As far as new fuel-saving technology goes, Roeth said “Manufacturers are bringing them and fleets are buying them.”

However, Roeth noted, while the numbers gained in this study are significant, it shows there is still room for improvement with you compare these number with those from the Run on Less program.

“There’s still a pretty big gap between what (these 20 fleets) are doing, and what the possibility is, like the 10 mpg achieved during Run on Less,” he said, noting that it’s hard to compare a 72,000 truck study with a seven truck study. “We know those (seven trucks) were the best of the best, but still that gap is there.”

Fleets that participated in the study included: Bison Transport. CR England, Cardinal Logistics, Challenger Motor Freight, Crete Carriers, Frito-Lay, Hirschbach, Maverick, Mesilla Valley Transportation,  NFI Industries, Nussbaum Paper Transport, Prime, Ryder, Schneider National, United Parcel Service, Werner, US Express, and XPO Logistics.

You can download the full report here.