As many of you know, we recently released the results of our 8th Annual Fleet Fuel Study, and I am happy to report that fleets are continuing to invest in technologies and practices that improve their fuel efficiency.
The 21 fleets in the eight years of the study have moved their adoption rate of 85 technologies and practices that NACFE has identified as helping improve MPG from 17% in 2003 to 45% in this study.
As a result of these investments, the fleets in the study have seen an average 2% improvement in MPG each year.
The average fleet-wide fuel economy of the trucks in the study was 7.27 MPG, compared to the national average of 5.98 MPG.
The fleets in the study operated 73,844 trucks and saved $895,318,953 in 2018 compared to the average trucks on the road.
Fleet-wide fuel efficiency numbers are important. Not to denigrate the accomplishments of individual trucks and drivers — we saw impressive numbers in both Run on Less 2017 and Run on Less Regional — but what really counts is what happens over the whole fleet. It is also important to look at fleet-wide numbers as it includes all trucks operated by the fleets, whether new or old. They all burn fuel and create emissions.
While today’s trucks are more aerodynamic coming off the assembly line, there are still so many technologies on the market that can enhance fuel economy even further. The fleets in the study demonstrated that there is no one right answer when it comes to improving fuel economy, but rather a variety of combinations of technologies and practices that work to bring fuel consumption down. That is good news for other fleets as they can find options that work given their duty cycles and operating parameters.
If you want to be one of the best-in-class fleets, isn’t it time you checked out some of the options that will help you get more from a gallon of diesel?
