Fleet Fuel Economy Increases 1% in Latest NACFE Study
Photo: Nussbaum Transportation
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Photo: Nussbaum Transportation
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The North American Council for Freight Efficiency released its 2017 Annual Fleet Fuel Study, finding that overall fuel economy rose 1% in 2016, the ninth year in a row trucking fleets in the study have recorded an increase.
NACFE’s study covered 19 fleets operating more than 71,000 tractors and 234,000 trailers, with two new fleets being added for this sixth annual report: Mesilla Valley Transportation and U.S. Xpress. Combined, these fleets reached an average fleet-wide fuel economy of 7.11 mpg. While this represents only a slight increase from the previous year’s study, the U.S. fleet average is only 5.89 mpg. The fleets in the study are also mixed with new and old vehicles. According to NACFE, some 2017 model trucks achieved 7.8-9.2 mpg, with some reportedly approaching 10 mpg.
“We are thrilled to see that fleets are still seeing fuel economy improvements from their investments,” said Mike Roeth, executive director of NACFE and operation lead of Trucking Efficiency, NACFE’s partnership with the Carbon War Room. “While gains are smaller than in the past, any improvement in fuel economy curbs the fleet’s expenses.”
In recent studies, the year-over-year gains have been greater than in the latest report. Average fleet fuel economy rose 3% between 2014 and 2015. NACFE gave a variety of reasons for the flatter curve, including fleets eliminating some technologies that improved fuel efficiency, a reduced focus on fuel efficiency due to lower fuel prices, increased speed, older trucks, and even a hotter than average summer in 2016.
NACFE noted a slight drop in 11L and 13L engine adoption in favor of larger displacement engines. At the same time, fleets increased adoption of fuel-efficient specs such as tandem drive fairings, wheel covers, and predictive cruise. Automated transmissions, tire pressure systems, two-speed fan clutches, and low viscosity oil control all saw increased …Read the rest of this story
