Just thought i’d run this one by ya’ll.Currently doing a container job driving daf xf’s.1 year old,bog standard affairs no bells and whistles but my fuel figures are around 7.plus region and i’m getting a bit of grief from the tm with dark hints of ‘retraining’ very much to the fore.
Theres only ten of us running out of Southampton and although I drive in a light footed manner I can’t seem to budge from the weekly miscreant list while my comrades are sailing high in the brownie points category but my suspicion is that given i’m tramping and relying heavily on the night-heater,especially after the recent bad weather,and tending to use it when on loading bays during the day as well,would this have a knock on effect when they analyse fuel usage?
I notice a lot of the other guys get to go home on a regular basis and they are generally the ones returning the 8 plusses.
I now face the prospect of swapping my truck for the night trunk vehicle on an experimental basis and this truck only takes light pallets to Dartford and unsurprisingly is returning figures in the low nines.How can this be an accurate test when by definition most containers are uphill and down dale hauling heavy recycled material such as waste paper etc?
I did express this conundrum to the tm but was just given stock phrases and corporate style brush offs.Do I have a point that night heater usage can eat into the fuel figures? I did notice that during a 2 week period when the heater became blocked and I was constantly being woken by the intense cold,as I continously tried to get the thing giving at least some temporary relief,I noticed my figures moved albeit temporarily to 2nd from the bottom of that weeks published figures.
manalishi:
Just thought i’d run this one by ya’ll.Currently doing a container job driving daf xf’s.1 year old,bog standard affairs no bells and whistles but my fuel figures are around 7.plus region and i’m getting a bit of grief from the tm with dark hints of ‘retraining’ very much to the fore.
Theres only ten of us running out of Southampton and although I drive in a light footed manner I can’t seem to budge from the weekly miscreant list while my comrades are sailing high in the brownie points category but my suspicion is that given i’m tramping and relying heavily on the night-heater,especially after the recent bad weather,and tending to use it when on loading bays during the day as well,would this have a knock on effect when they analyse fuel usage?
I notice a lot of the other guys get to go home on a regular basis and they are generally the ones returning the 8 plusses.
I now face the prospect of swapping my truck for the night trunk vehicle on an experimental basis and this truck only takes light pallets to Dartford and unsurprisingly is returning figures in the low nines.How can this be an accurate test when by definition most containers are uphill and down dale hauling heavy recycled material such as waste paper etc?
I did express this conundrum to the tm but was just given stock phrases and corporate style brush offs.Do I have a point that night heater usage can eat into the fuel figures? I did notice that during a 2 week period when the heater became blocked and I was constantly being woken by the intense cold,as I continously tried to get the thing giving at least some temporary relief,I noticed my figures moved albeit temporarily to 2nd from the bottom of that weeks published figures.
Any wiser councils out there
What I’ve been told, night heater will use roughly 1 gallon a night, as for the TM, ask him to have at go doing the same job to see if he can do better, before he considers retraining! By the way what horse power is the daf?
What’s the problem with “retraining”? Training courses are usually a good excuse to not get up at silly o’clock, get fed and watered, and generally relax a bit. If you come away with some useful tips on “fuel efficient driving” then all to the good - If you don’t then at least you will have had the free grub etc.
Night heaters can easily burn a litre or more of diesel an hour.
Low end of the spectrum daf,think maybe a 380,I know this new generation has issues ie,they burn fuel which the tm must be oblivious to but I’d like to think theres method in his madness in sticking me on a rather minging trunking truck from now on,but I wont hold my breath.
No probs with so called retraining as such,I just find his logic unfathomable.The trunker goes home at night,i don’t.
manalishi:
Low end of the spectrum daf,think maybe a 380,I know this new generation has issues ie,they burn fuel which the tm must be oblivious to but I’d like to think theres method in his madness in sticking me on a rather minging trunking truck from now on,but I wont hold my breath.
No probs with so called retraining as such,I just find his logic unfathomable.The trunker goes home at night,i don’t.
Google is your friend. Look up “economical driving tips” and see the sort of things that come up. Yeah ok a lot of stuff will be car based but there may be some things you can look at.
I wouldn’t imagine the night heater would make that mush of a difference tbh. I use mine a lot and I’m always highest or second highest (out of 70+ trucks) at my place.
Firstly check your tyre pressures, that can have a huge effect. Secondly knock the engine off wherever possible, it takes over a gallon an hour to tick over. Thirdly, plan a head, look far up the road, if the lights ar on red then coast up to them. If the traffic ahead is slowing then come straight off the gas and coast up to it. When you leave the carriageway come off the gas at the bottom of the sliproad and let momentum take you up it. I’m assuming you use the A34 a lot? If so try taking your foot off the gas just before the top of a hill and let your momentum take you over the other side. If it’s an auto, then manually select your upshifts earlier than the computer would. Autoboxes can’t read the terrain, you can!
Better fuel economy is easily achievable but it requires discipline until eventually it becomes second nature.
Because a lot of lorry drivers don’t know how to drive economically. Better retraining than a P45.
I used to do a night trunk with another guy to London from Hull. Identical wagons and loads and because we didn’t have our own wagons we drove the same ones.
He’d fly off like a bat out of hell, screaming up to lights and roundabouts etc and then braking to stop for example whereas I timed it to keep rolling.
I’d arrive in London at the tip just as he was driving through the gates and get back just as he was fuelling up.
He used 50 litres a night more than I did so for every 4 days of fuel he used, I got 5.
Surely the night heater does not affect your fuel consumption figures as the computer will work out mpg.As you are not doing any miles when parked up the computer will not add this onto your mpg.
As has been said, ask to swap trucks for a week. Also it depends how the tm is working out the fuel, Examples, our tm works it out weekly by total milage and how much youve put in, so basically if I fuel up on friday evening my economy is like the rest if I dont its better but the following week its dire because ive fuelled on monday. During the recent bad snow I filled up on the monday, did a local on the tuesday and filled up again, so id put over 500ltrs in for app 400km. that really cocked the figures up. Should be done monthly not weekly.
Another thing, try booting it a bit, give it some at hills it will more than likely need a gear less and will pull better.
Depends how the company is arriving at its fuel consumption figure. If they are relying on the vehicle’s on-board trip computer, the night heater won’t affect the figures. But if they are simply looking at miles covered each week and fuel put into the tank then it will.
is it an auto if so try using the manual gear change to keep the revs in the green also leaving it idling will affect fuel usage just a thought and of course good old forward planing approaching junctions if you can keep it on the move that helps greatly just a couple of things you might concider
the maoster:
Firstly check your tyre pressures, that can have a huge effect. Secondly knock the engine off wherever possible, it takes over a gallon an hour to tick over. Thirdly, plan a head, look far up the road, if the lights ar on red then coast up to them. If the traffic ahead is slowing then come straight off the gas and coast up to it. When you leave the carriageway come off the gas at the bottom of the sliproad and let momentum take you up it. I’m assuming you use the A34 a lot? If so try taking your foot off the gas just before the top of a hill and let your momentum take you over the other side. If it’s an auto, then manually select your upshifts earlier than the computer would. Autoboxes can’t read the terrain, you can!
Better fuel economy is easily achievable but it requires discipline until eventually it becomes second nature.
the maoster:
Google is your friend. Look up “economical driving tips” and see the sort of things that come up. Yeah ok a lot of stuff will be car based but there may be some things you can look at.
I wouldn’t imagine the night heater would make that mush of a difference tbh. I use mine a lot and I’m always highest or second highest (out of 70+ trucks) at my place.
Firstly check your tyre pressures, that can have a huge effect. Secondly knock the engine off wherever possible, it takes over a gallon an hour to tick over. Thirdly, plan a head, look far up the road, if the lights ar on red then coast up to them. If the traffic ahead is slowing then come straight off the gas and coast up to it. When you leave the carriageway come off the gas at the bottom of the sliproad and let momentum take you up it. I’m assuming you use the A34 a lot? If so try taking your foot off the gas just before the top of a hill and let your momentum take you over the other side. If it’s an auto, then manually select your upshifts earlier than the computer would. Autoboxes can’t read the terrain, you can!
Better fuel economy is easily achievable but it requires discipline until eventually it becomes second nature.
Tickover on a warmed up truck is 0.2 gal / hr (average on all trucks I’ve ever checked it on), they use more cold but even then around 0.5 gal / hr.
Rest of your tips are good though.
If you’ve got a ‘high cube’ container, drop your top speed on a motorway a few clicks, makes a MASSIVE difference, 50mph instead of 56mph will see you doing well into the 9’s when you’ve got time, doesn’t make a big difference on most run times either believe it or not.
I had a CF 460 at Turners and averaged 9.1mpg over the time I was there, and I was a tramper, but Manchester based (which does make a difference too - Maritime had separate fuel targets for different depots and different trucks) so good figures are achievable with a bit of work.
The retarder can cut the diesel off to the engine too (depending on type - I think DAF ones do??), so using that saves diesel (as long as it doesn’t slow you so much you have to use the throttle obviously)
‘The enemy’ of good fuel returns (believe it or not) is actually the brake pedal, all that momentum you’ve built up was at the cost of diesel & scrubbing it off with the brake means you’ve got to do it all again when you let the brake off!!
Don’t press the accelerator to the floor, only go half to three quarters throttle & if driving on a road with lots of traffic lights like the north circular don’t go rushing up to 40 or 50 mph between lights only to have to brake like mad, ease it up to speed & think ahead, if the lights are on red in the distance get off the gas early & coast. If they change to green while your still doing 20mph thats a massive gain over rushing up & slamming on the brakes to a standstill.
Just a couple of points, another driver had my truck out the other week & did the same job both days, 20’ ISO tank from Liverpool, tip Leek m’t back to Liverpool & his average was 6.6mpg. The following Monday & tuesday (the boss zero’s the fuel computer every Sunday) I did the same & I averaged 8.7 on exactly the same jobs in the same truck. A 55 plate 460 FH Volvo.
the night heater can knock as much as a point off overnight if its cold. I had a lot of problems readjusting to driving economically after working for a builders merchants knocking out load after load, flat out all day.
i’m cracking it now and my figures have risen enough for the boss to shut up about it, I have had my eyes glued more to the mpg screen more than than the poxy speedo lately but as an added bonus it has slowed me right down and practically knocked speeding on the head, apart from possibly nice big a roads where you can build a bit of momentum and rol up and down the hills
i was getting crap figures on my volvo and it turned out it was the work i was doing, as soon i was back on the " easy " work my figures rocketed back up again.
remember also waste paper and scrap metal is run at full weight.
