This is the ninth year in a row fleets have increased their fuel economy, NACFE says.
“We are thrilled to see that fleets are still seeing fuel economy improvements from their investments,” says Mike Roeth, executive director at NACFE and operation lead at Trucking Efficiency. “While gains are smaller than in the past, any improvement in fuel economy curbs the fleet’s expenses.”
NACFE says its study participants combined to reach an average fuel economy of 7.11 mpg compared to the U.S. fleet average of 5.89, a edge of 20.7 percent. While 7.11 is an average fuel economy number of all trucks owned by these carriers, NACFE adds that 2017 model trucks operated by those fleets achieved 7.8 to 9.2 mpg with some even approaching 10 mpg.
Reaching 7.11 mpg resulted in a combined savings of nearly $500 million or $7,020 per year per truck with fuel at $2.34 a gallon.
Additionally, NACFE says the 1 percent fuel economy improvement in 2016 over 2015 was significantly less than 2015’s gain of 3 percent over 2014. The organization says this is due to a variety of reasons, including: fleets eliminating some technologies that improved fuel efficiency; low fuel prices resulting in a reduced focus on fuel efficiency; increased speed; older trucks; and hotter weather.
NACFE Program Manager Dave Schaller doesn’t anticipate this downswing as a precursor to any long-term trend, citing the success of new units in the 2016 study.
