Easy On the Gas – Easy On the Wallet — Slowing Down To Save Money

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05/23/2008 - Easy On the Gas – Easy On the Wallet — Slowing Down To Save Money

High diesel prices are on the minds of pretty much every motor carrier in the country. Large or small, everyone in the industry is worried about how much fuel is costing them and how much it will cost them in the future. A quick look on the internet will prove that there are lots of ideas out there on how to save fuel. Some of them, like switching off engines instead of idling, are good, others are a bit more half-baked — no, you can’t run your engine on Jack Daniels. Sometimes, however, an idea comes along that is so simple and yet so brilliant that it makes you wonder why nobody thought of it before.

The folks at Schneider National, Inc. — one of the nations largest motor carriers — did the math and realized that if they limit the speed of their trucks to 60 miles an hour as opposed to the 63 that they currently use they could save 3.75 million gallons of fuel a year. With the average price of diesel, this week, at $4.15 the company stands to save more than $15.5 million a year.

"60 miles per hour is our sweet spot," company spokesperson Janet Bonkowski said. "In order to meet our responsibilities to our customers, our drivers and the environment, 60 is where it all came together."

The company is using a computerized system to limit the amount of fuel that goes to the engine so the truck cannot exceed 60 miles per hour. If the driver needs to do so, for instance, when passing a slower vehicle there is a manual override that will allow the truck to reach 63 miles per hour. The company offers a financial incentive for drivers to stay at 60 miles per hour as much as possible.

As well as saving millions of gallons of fuel, slowing down will lower the carbon dioxide emissions of the company by 40,000 tons. Carbon dioxide (CO2) build-up is one of the key causes of global climate change. Companies world wide are working to reduce their impact on the environment and lower their ‘carbon footprint.’ Schneider National has managed to do it in a way that saves them money. Other major trucking companies are joining the initiative to lower the speed their trucks will operate. Con-Way Truckload, for example, lowered the maximum speed of their trucks from 70 miles per hour to 65. By doing so they estimate that they saved 2.8 million gallons of fuel.

Limiting speed is something that all motor carriers can do to save fuel, money and the environment. In fact the American Trucking Association (ATA) is currently pushing the government to set a national speed limit of 65 miles an hour. According to their website, www.trucksdeliver.org, by doing this, the industry would save 2.8 billion gallons of diesel fuel and 31.5 million tons of CO2. That is roughly the same amount of CO2 as caused by the entire population of Connecticut (about 9 million people).

The ATA points out the benefit of lowering the speed limit out side of the trucking industry. They claim that setting the limit at 65 would lower automobile fuel consumption by 8.7 billion gallons and prevent 84.7 million tons of CO2 from being released.

It seems that, in the future, every motor carrier serious about saving money and fuel will limit the speed they drive. By simply dropping a few miles an hour a company can save millions of dollars in unnecessary fuel expenses. If the ATA gets its way everyone in the country, truck and car drivers alike will be doing their part to alleviate the pain at the pump.