Volvo FH16

The Volvo FH16 is the world's most powerful production assembly line truck, boasting 700 horsepower. And it achieves all that power while meeting strict engine emissions requirements. It gets 7 MPG or uses 14.3 GPHM ( gallons per hundred miles). That means it only guzzles about twice the gas of a large SUV like a Hummer H2, but it is far, far more capable as a prime mover than a mere SUV. The FH16 really gets remarkable fuel economy for the loads it can haul. Saving on gas while getting the job done ... way to go Volvo!

One trucker who works on the demanding, hilly Norwegian west coast reports that the Volvo FH16 saves him 5 liters every 100km even though he he has to drive kilometre-long gradients of between 6 and 10 per cent.



Like spending your hard earned money on gas? Us neither, make sure to read tomorrow's post on Save on Gas.

Fuel Efficient Driving Tips from a Trucker

Truckers know how to drive fuel efficiently. The trucking industry depends on minimizing fuel costs for generation of competitive advantage. We can all learn to save on gas by picking up a tip or two from the truckers!



Think that 7 mpg is good fuel economy? Maybe when you are hauling 50 tons. Tomorrow's post has information on the Volvo FH16-700, a powerful truck with the I-shift transmission that you saw in today's video.

Trucking Companies Monitor Idling to Save on Gas

Idling and speeding are two gas burning activities which generate little benefit. Trucking companies have spent decades looking to reduce them. You can save on gas and money too by adopting the habits of the trucking companies ... reduce idling and avoid speeding. You won't miss them and your wallet will thank you!



If you're interested in regular cars that are just a bit more efficient make sure to read tomorrow's post. I will be putting up some information on the Chevy Cruise Eco an the Chevy Cruise RS.

Rail vs Trucks : Which Saves More Gas?

There are two choices for moving bulk freight over land: by truck or by rail. There was a time when America was criss crossed by a vast rail network. Today most of that is gone, and almost all of our freight is hauled by truck. But was that great change a wise move from the point of view of fuel efficiency?

The Department of Transport's Federal Railroad Administration looked into the comparative fuel economy of rail vs truck hauled freight. The study, titled Comparative Evaluation of Rail and Truck Fuel Efficiency on Competitive Corridors is available as a PDF file for download. Although the study is more than a hundred pages long, the result in terms of fuel efficiency is clear. Rail is more efficient.

When considering hauling cargo, fuel efficiency is measured not just in gallons spent to cover a given distance but must also take into account how much cargo was carried. Therefore efficiency is measured in ton-miles per gallon. That is the normal miles per gallon rating multiplied by how many tons of freight were carried over that distance. The actual fuel efficiencies depend on various factors including the type of vehicle and cargo.

Efficiencies for rail ranged between 152 to 512 ton-miles per gallon versus 68 to 133 ton-miles per gallon for trucks. The figure at the top of the post shows the rail and truck fuel efficiencies for 23 different types of cargo movement studied. Clearly, rail is the winner when it comes to saving gas while moving cargo around the nation. In a future of permanently high gas prices, the US will come to regret scrapping all that rail for asphalt.

Food Miles

In the modern world, some things can be done by communication without ever leaving your house. For example, to read a book you can download it without the need to go to a bookstore and pick it up. Family members can communicate over the telephone without having to travel to physically meet up in the same location. However other things still require and always will require physical transport. A perfect example of this is food. To eat something, it has to be on your plate in front of you. The distance that a piece of food travels from farm to kitchen plate is known as its "food miles". The typical food has gone between 1,500 to 2,500 miles before you get to eat it.

Jake Brake

Ever wondered why it is that big rigs sometimes make a lawnmower like sound as they slow down? That is the Jacobs Brake, named after its inventor, often called a Jake Brake. It is a system that uses the engine to brake the vehicle instead of using friction at the wheels. This reverses the usual role of the engine, which is to accelerate or maintain constant speed. The Jake Brake works by using the cylinders in the engine to compress air. This compressed air is then vented to the atmosphere. There is no power stroke, and since it takes energy to compress air, this energy is bled out of the kinetic energy of the vehicle. The rotating drive train and wheels are the source of the energy which is used to compress that air. The distinctive sound is the result of venting that compressed air to the outside atmosphere.

Freight Bikes

During the American golden age that followed World War II, plentiful cheap fuel and the spanking new interstate highway network ushered us into the rise of the personal automobile and “18-wheeler” trucks. As a result, every other method of transport was at least partly neglected. In that world, this made economic sense. But in a world of consistently high fuel prices it is not good to have all your eggs in one overpriced basket.

In a world of high gas prices it makes more sense to diversify transport. Each particular function served by transport can be more efficiently served by a specialized mode. For example, we have looked before at Neighbourhood Electric Vehicles and considered the use of a motorcycle instead of a much heavier and fuel hungrier vehicle. In the long distance point to point hauling of bulk freight specialized trains can be the most fuel efficient solution. And so on.

Freight bikes are bicycles designed to carry a light cargo over local distances. They are almost always tricycles, necessary for stability while loading, parking and unloading. Normally a large box or wire frame basket is attached to the front or rear. Special relatively heavy duty gearing is installed. The frame is also heavier and sturdier.

Although they seem symbolic of underdevelopment to many people, freight bikes are actually a very good solution in situations of fuel unavailability or high fuel price. Obviously their range and cargo load are limited by the human power source. It is also very difficult to operate them in hilly terrain. But for local delivery over flat ground they are perfect. I suspect that as the price of gasoline rises relative to labor we will see more and more of these on the streets of the United States. And if that helps us save on gas, it is a good thing.

Tractor-Trailer Fuel Economy

The trucking industry has paid a lot of attention to fuel economy. For them, their bread and butter depends on it. In fact, for them the word "performance" doesn't bring to mind high speeds or fast accelerations but rather good fuel economy per ton of cargo moved. Therefore looking at what they do to save on gas lets you take advantage of decades of tried and true tips and strategies. Caterpillar has published a report on Understanding Tractor-Trailer Performance which lays out the best ways they know to save gas with a big rig.

Their list of most significant factors affecting fuel economy includes these:

• Driver


• Route Selection


• Vehicle Speed


• Frontal Area of vehicle


• Aerodynamics of vehicle


• Hill Grade


• Climate


• Idle Time


• Tires


• Transmission

Caterpillar is very clear that the most important factor is the driver. The driver has direct control over many things including speed, accleration rate, usage of the brakes, shifting technique and time spent stopped with the engine idling. According to the report, fleets of identical trucks reveal fuel efficiency differences of 25% between the best and worst drivers. And even a bad trucker will probably drive more fuel efficiently than the average car driver. Truckers naturally develop a hypermiling culture amongst themselves due to the economic pressures in their industry.

The second factor they discuss is route selection. Caterpillar notes that driving in heavy traffic on congested roads notably increases fuel consumption. They find that a route of which 25% of the distance is congested leads to a 15% increase in fuel consumption. A route of which 15% is congested increases fuel consumption 8%. Roughly extrapolating to other percentages of congestion will allow you to estimate the mileage penalty of congested routes. In turn this lets you trade off the fuel penalties of distance and congestion. Choosing a longer route that avoids traffic could actually use less gas.

So Caterpillar is telling us that the most important factors determining your fuel usage and fuel economy are how you drive and where you drive. Read over the report if you have a few spare minutes. If it helps you save on gas, it will be time well spent!

Sideskirts Help Truckers Save on Gas

As you can imagine, truckers are interested in saving on gas. And if they save, it helps all of us. Higher transportation prices eventually work their way down the economic chain and raise the price of just about everything. The Delft University Aerospace Engineering department helped to develop a simple aerodynamic improvement to trucks to reduce their drag.

Many trucks have sideskirts, which are metal plates attached to the sides of trailers. Sideskirts block the space between the bottom of the trailer and the ground. They make in look like the truck almost rests on the road instead of having a large clear space underneath. The original purpose of sideskirts was for safety, to prevent cars jamming underneath the trailer in accidents. Delft University helped design aerodynamic sideskirts that shape the airflow. They reduce drag by keeping the airflow from going under the trailer.

Testing under controlled conditions on straight level roads revealed a 5% to 15% savings on fuel consumption. Long term real world operational tests by the transport company TNT found a 10% fuel savings. The sideskirts can be fitted to any truck. This one simple change can be deployed across the entire existing trucking fleet.

Delft also investigated the aerodynamic drag reduction possible by fitting a special "boat tail" to the back end of trucks. Although this offers further drag reduction giving another 10% to 15% fuel use reduction it is not practical for operations. Loading and unloading of cargo would be too difficult and the extra length added to the vehicle would make it unmanageable. However, the boat tail results could be used in a future where the transportation industry is rebuilt around fuel economy as priority number one.