ATLANTA, Ga. – The North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) is looking for 10 regional fleets to showcase the real-world fuel efficiency that can be realized when running within 150-500 km of a home base.

The council’s Run on Less Regional demonstration will kick off from various Canadian and U.S. locations on Oct. 8, and conclude Oct. 27 at the North American Commercial Vehicle (NACV) Show. It’s expected to include sleepers and day cabs, returning home several times per week.

This is the follow-up to the Run on Less fuel economy challenge that coincided with the first North American Commercial Vehicle Show.

“In Run on Less 2017 we were able to demonstrate the fleets operating in real world conditions could achieve 10.1 mpg on a consistent basis,” says Mike Roeth, executive director of NACFE. That equates to 23.289 liters per 100 km. “But longhaul is only one part of the truck market and we want to see just how fuel-efficient fleets in regional haul can be given the challenges they face.”

“We will [in] real time monitor the data off of the truck as well as conditions like wind speed,” he added during a media briefing at the annual meeting of the American Trucking Associations’ Technology and Maintenance Council. “It will continue to be real freight, real trucks, real drivers.”

The fuel economy numbers are expected to be lower than those seen in longhaul applications, though. “For regional haul we have a lot more starts and stops,” he explained. “The team at NACFE is working on exactly what should we be measuring … it could be a productivity measure in terms of how quickly you get up to speed.”

The equipment will all be commercially available. Electric tractors are excluded, but natural gas equipment is eligible.

Factors like e-commerce and drivers wanting to be home more often could be increasing the focus on regional hauls, he said, although it’s still unknown how such work might be defined.

“We are looking for fleets operating a wide variety of regional haul applications and duty cycles, but we are also committed to high mpg,” adds Dave Schaller, NACFE’s industry engagement manager.

Applications and further information are available through www.runonless.com. Sponsors include Shell, PepsiCo and Geotab.