NACFE study: Fleets save $477 million per year by adopting fuel-efficient technologies

by Truck News

 

DALLAS, Texas – By adopting a mix of fuel-efficient technologies, 14 fleets operating more than 53,000 tractors and 160,000 trailers achieved fuel savings of $477 million in 2014, according to the Annual Fleet Fuel Study released by the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE).

The study shows that the fleet improvements saved $9,000 per year per truck with a payback period of two and half years. It also reduced carbon emissions by 19%.

“The dramatic improvement in fuel economy of the leading fleets this year is exciting,” says Mike Roeth, operation lead for CWR’s Trucking Efficiency and executive director of NACFE. “If we can get the owners and operators of the 1.5 million tractor-trailers on the road today to invest in more of these technologies, we will see significant reduction in fuel consumption.”

The study also found that the adoptions of these technologies increased from 18% in 2003 to 42% in 2014. In addition, the 14 fleets achieved 7.0 mpg on average for all their trucks, while their 2015-model-year trucks reached as high as 8.5 mpg.

Trucking fleets such as Con-way Truckload, Frito Lay, and Schneider are currently pursuing fleet-wide fuel savings and seeing on-the-road results from adopting recommendations from Trucking Efficiency’s Tech Guide and Confidence Reports on individual trucking technologies.

“We have been aggressively pursuing fuel savings and freight efficiency for many years,” says Steve Hanson, director of fleet engineering at Frito Lay. “Through collaboration with tractor builders and aerodynamic-device and fuel-system suppliers, we are now able to get the aerodynamics we desire on our latest tractors. This will help us continue to increase our overall fleet-wide fuel efficiency.”

Con-way Truckload said it saw major success in equipping 48% of their fleet with automated manual transmissions.

“We will continue to buy automated manual transmissions as they are providing fuel savings and drivers appreciate their performance,” says Randy Cornell, vice president of maintenance and asset management at Con-way Truckload.

The full report can be downloaded at www.nacfe.org/projects.


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