Not every fleet has the luxury of deploying the latest and greatest trucking technology fleet-wide. Not every driver will be able to get behind the wheel of a new truck that’s perfectly optimized for fuel efficiency. Trucks vary widely in what they can achieve from a fuel efficiency standpoint, but there is one constant that can have a positive impact on fuel efficiency in every single cab: the driver.
Countless dollars have been spent on tractor trailers that are promoted as more modern and more efficient. While many of those improvements can make a real difference, they are not always effective and not always affordable for every fleet. Fleets should have the opportunity to improve fleetwide fuel efficiency and their bottom line in ways other than outfitting their tractors with the latest and greatest—and expensive—advancements.
Better tires, aerodynamic devices and telematics systems are beneficial for sure, but they’re not much use without a driver to make the most of them. Mike Roethe, the director of NACFE, articulated the point clearly:
“In a time when some say technology makes the driver less important, Run on Less, which had a lot of technology on the trucks, proved that you have to train the drivers how to use it in the best way. Just because the transmission shifts for you doesn’t mean you can slam the pedal to the metal and expect good fuel economy.”
Even on the most modern and efficient trucks used in the Run on Less program, it takes smart driving to get the most of it all. The same could be said of a driver running an older and comparably inefficient truck. Even in that less than ideal situation, a well-trained and well-coached driver can get the most out of every gallon.
The question is: how do you teach those kinds of skills in an affordable and efficient way? The answer: True Fuel®.
The True Fuel® Difference
The perfect “invisible coach in the cab”, True Fuel® normalizes factors that MPG as reported by telematics or other systems can’t account for, like the truck, the load, the route and the external environmental conditions—factors that the driver can’t control and shouldn’t be measured by. It automatically quantifies driver fuel efficiency apart from the other factors impacting MPG.
With real-time, in-cab coaching that focuses only on the fuel efficiency factors that the drivers can actively control, like engine speed, idling time, and highway speed, drivers are empowered and enabled to improve their fuel efficiency–and with True Fuel® they can get rewarded in the process, with a completely fair and transparent measure of their professional fuel-efficiency accomplishment, no matter the make, model, age or other characteristics of the vehicle, their load or the external environment.
True Fuel® and a rewards system built behind it provide a realistic way to show drivers that your fleet values them. With precise metrics operating in real-time, every driver is assessed fairly no matter their truck or driving situation, provided with the guidance they need to improve, and equipped to be the best they can be.