New Job & Telematics

[mucker1]

Ok guys and gals I’ve recently started a new job and all the DAF’s are fitted with the Telematics system. My previous company was more interested in getting the job done in the fastest possible time, therefore fuel economy and telematics weren’t even mentioned in the yard if at all, however, it’s a hot topic at my new place and I want to keep my job.

I’m not to bothered about the rights or wrongs with the system in general, as it’s a bit of a “marmite” subject, but I would like to get any hints or tips from the many more experienced drivers, who have become accustomed to using telematics and successfully changed their driving style to provide good results on the telematics system, thus keeping management off their backs.

Like everyone who jumps into the seat of an HGV I consider myself a good driver but what I think and the telematics tells my TM could be two different things so any help ie using exhaust brake/cruise control more effectively would be appreciated as all the other drivers at my place have had a days training on the system and it’s a whole new experience for me.

Stay safe all.

[fleettraineruk]

Dont idle, turn off as often as you reasonably can, saves a lot of fuel
Use the Auto setting for normal running, this will allow you to coast, saves fuel
light and progressive braking/accelerator, saves fuel/wear and tear
Give loads of space between you and the front vehicle, prevents wear and tear/fuel/stress
Use accelerator sense, saves wear and tear/fuel/stress
Plan ahead to keep moving at round abouts/traffic lights etc
Dont speed
Read the wagon manual

Theres lots more but some to get you started

[mucker1]

Thanks for reply fleettraineruk. Yep certainly gonna check out the vehicle handbook for a few more pointers.

[rambo19]

I’m a bus driver.

We have this fitted to all our buses.
When it was 1st fitted, 90% of the drivers were in the red!
Now, about 97% are in the green.
The 2 main things that catch people out are acceleration and braking, braking being the most common.
I have been in the green since it was fitted , but, I will admit, i’m a plodder and never in in hurry.

When you approach a green traffic light, be preperd for it to change, no more ‘foot down’ to beat the lights.
If you keep getting ‘bad’ scores, one things for sure, management will be having a word with you.
When we 1st got it, management assured us it would not be used for disaplinary action, and it hasn’t, but, if a driver keeps getting bad scores, the company will put a undercover passenger on the bus, the driver then gets a bad report and is normally sent back to training school, which normally means you won’t come back.

[mucker1]

Yep also taken very seriously at our place…and drivers are expected to “explain” any incidents such as harsh braking.

[cliffton_27]

use cruise control as much as possible too

[bald_bloke]

fleettraineruk:
Dont idle, turn off as often as you reasonably can, saves a lot of fuel
Use the Auto setting for normal running, this will allow you to coast, saves fuel
light and progressive braking/accelerator, saves fuel/wear and tear
Give loads of space between you and the front vehicle, prevents wear and tear/fuel/stress
Use accelerator sense, saves wear and tear/fuel/stress
Plan ahead to keep moving at round abouts/traffic lights etc
Dont speed
Read the wagon manual

Theres lots more but some to get you started

This ^^^ sums it up pretty well, also try and use your retarder when slowing down or on approach to roundabouts or junctions.
All they are asking is for you to drive nice and steady so it’s no big deal really.

[nick2008]

Being in a DAF … use the CC and flick to manual when you can then use ur exhaust break and then flick to CC again. Using ur exhaust break in auto will stitch you up cause it’ll change down and put you in high rev range and telematics can’t tell the difference it just thinks your booting it

[juddian]

You’ve got someone justifying their non job there Mucker, company has spent thousands on this system so some jobsworth has got the task of making sure that waste of money (sorry investment) justifies itself…it won’t but that won’t stop them trying.

You’ll have to drive like a numpty to please it, keep it in the green, don’t ever speed especially overspeed, cruise control as often as possible, approach traffic lights and junctions as if you are going to stop to avoid harsh brakes at all costs even if means taking far longer and dropping down to the lowest gears to resume progress on clear junctions…all this will increase fuel consumption but will please the system.

Find out about exhaust brake use, if you use the correct revs for engine braking the system might flash that up as overrev, the system would rather you wore a set of linings out every year than used the engine revs to assist braking…engine braking should be programmed out of the overrev settings but it might not be, worth asking the jobsworth if he/she knows but be prepared for a blank look when you ask about engine braking… …or expect the sing song mantra of ‘‘don’t you know its brakes to slow gears to go driver’’…

I had the best fuel figures in the depot at my last job but failed the Vemis score every quarter (overspeed), not on harsh brakes but by allowing the vehicle to overrun downhill in order to make use of rolling momentum…overrun in gear is all free.

Also drove in manual override which meant i controlled the revs (and more importantly maintained progress) at junctions etc, that saves fuel big time.

These systems are cobblers, a real lorry gaffer only has to look at the wheels, especially the fronts, of a lorry to know who drives on the brakes…thing is no lorry gaffers left in these big logistics outfits.

I’ll wager our real world small fleet owners here don’t have this rubbish…go on operators own up, how much money have these systems saved you pverall, factor in lost time and excessive brake replacements?

Especially love the no idling insistence…don’t let the oil circulate before driving off stone cold, and don’t whatever you do let the turbo cool down for a couple of minutes when you’ve just climbed a Welsh hillside for 10 minutes hard slog to get to a delivery point at the very top…presumably a cupful of fuel is far cheaper than a new turbo and accelerated wear.

[yorkshire_terrier]

Who you on for??
Iv just left a firm that brought this in and to be honest I got my head round it and was getting good results,the company did use it as a stick to beat you with though and still wanted the job doing in the same amount of time.
They said we would get a bonus but only once before I left was the bonus achieved

[mucker1]

Nick and Juddian that’s the problem I’m finding with the DAF…when I press the exhaust brake in auto…especially steep downhill… it seems to want to change down gear straight away and revs jump way high…seems to or appears to defeat the object of saving fuel.

M62 Saddleworth Moor downhill and exhaust brake puts it into 11A and sends revs way up into the blue…will flick it into manual next time and then use exhaust brake…see if it improves.

[gasgas]

The main thing to remember is that an engine in over-run is not using any fuel at all, so it doesn’t matter it is revving into the blue…just don’t let it into the red!

A lot of these systems are over-complicated and provide the ‘office’ with too much information for their own good.

Volvo makes its own telematics system: Dynafleet; and they reckon that there are only 4 factors that really impact on fuel use.

To summarise these are:

Stay in the green band as much as possible

Avoid excessive idling: by which they mean minutes at a time. Reducing idle time from 10 % to 5 % of running time saves about £200 per truck per year.

Adapt speed to conditions ie avoid a driving style where you are constantly on the brake or accelerator

Try to ‘coast’ as much as possible; ie let the truck run on with no throttle or brake. This is essentially ‘free’ mileage.

I have rather more faith in the Volvo system than the aftermarket ones. As stated above these are sold to operators on the basis that they can micromanage drivers, and it is sometimes counterproductive. For example, if you use cruise control to accelerate up to cruising speed when you join a motorway, you will probably use more fuel than if you ‘drive’ the truck up to cruising speed yourself.
Drivers also learn to ‘game’ the system; for example if you apply a bit of throttle when the truck’s stopped they system doesn’t count it as idling!

Telematics should be used to identify bad driving, and to reduce fuel consumption and risky behaviour. It’s increasingly being used as a goal in itself. It’s become a ‘bomb pattern’ if you’ve read Catch-22.

[juddian]

Mucker1:
Nick and Juddian that’s the problem I’m finding with the DAF…when I press the exhaust brake in auto…especially steep downhill… it seems to want to change down gear straight away and revs jump way high…seems to or appears to defeat the object of saving fuel.

M62 Saddleworth Moor downhill and exhaust brake puts it into 11A and sends revs way up into the blue…

Thats how an exhaust brake should be used, high revs (but as Gas Gas says not into the red) for maximum engine braking probably shown in blue on your rev counter…on MANs tachometer when the exhauster is on the green band upps from 1500 rpm to around 2300rpm to take account, doesn’t have a blue section.

When on overrun, including exhaust brake use, fuel is shut off, it’s all free travel…but these idiot systems can’t take that into account, only a real lorry driver can.

The problem is that you don’t yet (and may never) know if the system has been calibrated properly to take account of the use of exhaust brake revs, the tiny fuel squirt used to up the revs for the required lower gear for deceleration is minute compared to the brake wear saved, and the far more important reason, the prevention of heat build up inside the brakes and with obvious safety improvements overall by you, the driver, being in complete control.

[mucker1]

Some great info there. Will be putting most of it in use today on run to Manchester. Thanks guys.

[fatboy_slimslow]

When at stobrats, the trainers were dishing out INFORMATION about idling , harsh braking, and so forth! anyway they ask the class of pupils ( who’ve been driving longer than them! ) " who uses the exhaust brake? The little button on the floor! " me sticks me hand up! three days later I go into the office for a chat with SAID TRAINERS! " no fuel bonus for you DRIVE! " oh whys that then " I reply " too much high revs in the blue " so I asked him " in the class the other day, who was the only one to put their hand up, if they used the exhaust break? " trainer replied " you drive! " so if it shoots into the blue, and drops down a cog coming down windy hill, it ain’t using ANY FUEL THEN IS IT [zb] AND [zb]! " I reply! I’ll close the door on my way out! funny how I got paid fuel bonus everyday, everywhere and every week!

[terry_t]

I can’t speak for DAF telematics but our Actros’s use Fleetboard and that definitely doesn’t punish you for using the retarder. In fact, retarder use is what the system wants and actually punishes you for foot brake use.

The green band goes up to 1500rpm then yellow up to 2300rpm which is where maximum engine braking is reached. There’s a small band from 2300 to 2500 which is yellow and red. If you go into this band when changing down the Actros itself makes a beeping noise and I usually get this about 3 times per shift depending on the route. The truck won’t let you down shift to a gear that will put you above 2500rpm.

My Telematics scores are really high though, even my engine usage is well into the 9s despite max use of the retarder. Foot brake use is 1% meaning for every 100 miles I go forward I spend 1 mile on the foot brake. Some are over 10% and they get pulled into the office over it.

And as has already been said, engine brakes shut off the fuel supply when activated so save fuel rather than waste it.

[nick2008]

Reset trip settings before you start

[muckaway]

The runs you do will bias fuel figures. I do a lot of Oxford work (back loading and stop start traffic) and then it’s Cotswold deliveries (up and down hills etc) and this shows me as a tear arse on the mpg figures.
Our wagons based at head office travel empty for a good distance to get loaded, and a good distance home empty. Hence their mpg is better but the lorry is doing dead mileage an awful lot.

[gasgas]

Absolutely…sometime the truck burning the most fuel is the one doing the hardest work…and making the most money!

[nick2008]

So how did it go ■■