Why It’s Time to Replace Tractors Sooner

Photo: U.S. Dept. of Transportation

Many fleet managers have long followed the golden rule of running a tractor to one million miles before investing in a replacement. But it may be time to part ways with that magic number.

Yes, purchasing or leasing a new tractor can be an intimidating expense. As improvements in fuel standards, telematics, and safety hit the market, however, the “one million mile” heavy-truck cycling practice actually puts long-term savings at risk.

At Element Fleet, we encourage customers to consider cycling through old tractors sooner, often leading to lower total cost of ownership at the end of the day.

Major improvements, major savings

The one million mile rule has a fairly simple origin. Tractors are expensive, so fleets that run them for as long as possible are increasing cost-effectiveness. Such thinking is now shortsighted because, just like passenger vehicles, heavy-truck fleet tractors get better and better each year. Whether it's fuel, performance or safety, these improvements enable savings throughout the lifecycle of a heavy truck.

As a major ongoing expense, fuel is often the largest savings opportunity that urges customers to cycle tractors earlier. Diesel fuel is the biggest operating cost for trucking companies and as prices increase globally so do figures on the expense sheet. For most fleets, the dramatically improved fuel economy accompanying most new tractors offers a significant economic upside.

To put it simply, imagine that a fleet of 10 trucks each running 100,000 miles a year is seeing an average 7 miles per gallon. Even just a one mpg improvement would save nearly 20,000 gallons of fuel each year. This alone is a significant savings opportunity.

Perhaps more obvious than fuel savings is the decreased maintenance required for new-and-improved tractors. Maintenance costs tend to rise based on a tractor's age, and cycling out sooner can help fleet managers avoid ...Read the rest of this story

HDT Opens Nominations for 2018 Truck Fleet Innovators

Heavy Duty Trucking magazine is looking for the trucking industry's most innovative leaders.

We want to find the fleet executives who are leading with innovative ideas and solutions to problems like driver retention, fuel economy, sustainability, equipment specs, maintenance, and are pushing the envelope with technology.

Of the nominations we receive, three to five leaders will be honored as our 2018 HDT Truck Fleet Innovators and will be featured and profiled in the May 2018 issue. They will also be featured on a panel discussion at the Heavy Duty Trucking Exchange to be held on May 10, 2018, in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Nominations can be submitted by fleets, suppliers, dealers and associations as well as by HDT editors. The winners will be determined by HDT's editorial staff.

The nomination deadline is January 26, 2018 — so get them in soon and get your chance to be recognized or to recognize someone you know for innovative thinking in this challenging industry.

To nominate yourself or someone you know, click here.

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Indiana Wants ELD Rule Delayed

In an eleventh hour request, the Attorney General of Indiana has proposed that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration delay implementation of the electronic logging device rule set for Dec. 18— less than 3 weeks from today.

While numerous attempts to halt or delay the roll out of the ELD rule have been made in federal courts and on Capitol Hill, this request marks the first time a state official— and in this case, a very high-ranking official in a top trucking state— has advocated taking such action.

Attorney General Curtis T. Hill, Jr. (R) stated in a Nov. 29 letter to FMCSA Chief Counsel Randi Hutchison that a delay was needed because to “immediately begin requiring drivers to use ELDs exclusively (except, as the new rule allows, for those with on-board recording devices installed before December 18, 2017) would place undue burdens on drivers and operators.”

He outlined why his chief concern around the mandate is that there is no government or third-party verification in place for the ELD device self-certification process offered to suppliers by FMCSA.

“With manufacturers of ELDs currently responsible for ‘self-certifying' their compliance with government standards -- with no effective procedures seemingly yet developed to provide oversight over such ‘self-certifying' -- drivers and operators are left without any way of ascertaining which brands and models of devices ultimately will pass muster,” wrote Hill. “They must ‘fly blindly' into investing in products they are being required to purchase.”

He then argued in detail that several crucial issues may result from the device certification and registration protocol now in place, including but not limited to the following:

• “Certain steps outlined in the Plan and Procedures Manual are ‘not required to be completed' because they cannot be completed. The actual data transfer has not and cannot be trialed ...Read the rest of this story

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