Everyone is looking for ways to reduce operating costs while still maintaining efficiencies. There are a number of areas where fleets can reduce costs, including how they spec equipment, how they operate that equipment and manage damage to cargo and equipment.
Balancing performance and fuel economy
When a fleet is putting together its equipment specs, it needs to strive to find the optimal balance between performance and fuel economy. Fuel is one of the biggest costs a fleet faces, so it is understandable that there is a tendency to focus on maximizing fuel economy over everything else. However, if the focus is solely on miles per gallon, there may be operational issues, like the vehicle not having enough power to climb hills.
Let’s use speed limiters as an example. Fleets can set both pedal speed and cruise speed. If the driver is using cruise control, which is always going to bolster fuel economy, the speed might be set at 64 mph. At the same time, the speed at the pedal might only be 62 mph. These settings provide ample power and also can contribute to safety by preventing drivers from operating at excessive speeds.
Today’s trucks, whether equipped with automated manual transmissions or automatic transmissions, allow the fleet to set parameters to achieve maximum fuel economy or maximum performance. What often gets overlooked is that this is not a question of either/or. Rather it is about blending both fuel economy and performance. Fleets have to give drivers enough power to get the job done. Parameters can be set globally for the entire fleet and manual overrides of the settings can be disabled. There is no way even the most skilled driver can compete with what the vehicle’s computer can do in terms of balancing performance and fuel economy.
Low rolling resistance tires are another smart spec’ing decision as they improve fuel economy and lower the fleet’s total cost per mile. If a fleet is trying to reduce operating costs and maximize fuel economy, it should spec aerodynamic packages on both the tractor and the trailer.
Balancing equipment utilization
